Over 6 visits during the past 1 1/2 years Michael Maguire has been evaluating the potential for pig production in the region and met with many interested progressive farmers and groups.
In cooperation with Traidlinks, a business led, not for profit organisation, promoting prosperity in African organisations and with support from Africa Agri-Food Development, Devenish have committed to establishing this facility to assist in developing a pig industry in Uganda.
Uganda has a growing population of 35 million people and agriculture is the only real source of employment with 78% of the population engaged in it. It is a very fertile country with regular rainy seasons and the potential to feed all of East Africa. Winston Churchill famously referred to it as the “pearl of Africa “because of its soil type and climate and the surprising aspect is that there is a very small amount of commercial farming ongoing at present. The basis of development in East Africa is Agriculture and Devenish Nutrition will contribute to this through this initiative.
Current pig production is estimated at 3.3 million pigs slaughtered per year (similar to R.O.I.) but these pigs are sourced from 1. 3 million households with an estimated kill weight of 45 kgs D.W. The average age of these pigs at slaughter is 10 months so lack of nutrition is a key issue.
Most of the current production is from small livelihood farmers and currently the largest progressive producer in Uganda has 60 sows. We have identified 20 small scale development farmers whom we plan to assist in making the transition to full time progressive pig producers.
Uganda currently imports pork from Kenya and South Africa and average consumption is 3 kgs /head/yr. With an emerging middle class demand is expected to grow rapidly. We have established the route to market for this extra production in consultation with a Ugandan pork processor who has committed to increasing his kill from 200 pigs per week to 500 pigs p/w in the short term. We will aim to improve the quality and increase the carcass weights to 70 kgs DW.
Devenish Nutrition will establish the basic mill and a 15 sow model pig farm in early 2014 in Hoima.
This will be used as a practical training centre in conjunction with a nearby enterprise centre run by Traidlinks, which will provide the mentoring for the groups of progressive pig farmers whom we will be working with. The feed mill will be for the supply of consistent quality animal feeds for the model farm, plus the progressive producers who will source their supplies from the mill on a commercial basis and this feed mill will be run as a stand alone business entity. Devenish have committed to supporting this initiative for 4 years after which we plan to pass control to the farmers group.
Aside from the financial input from Devenish to this project we also believe the knowledge transfer aspect is something we will continue to provide over a longer term period. The 2nd phase of the project in 2015 will be to introduce improved genetics through breeding stock and A.I. and we believe there will be more opportunities for both Irish and GB based companies and individuals to become involved at that stage.
Looking to the longer term Devenish Nutrition will seek to establish a base in the East African region to service the markets and opportunities that will emerge through these initiatives as part of our international growth strategy.
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