PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Tanzania, Mozambique to uplift livelihoods of smallholder pig farmers
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Ignorance about proper pig husbandry is taking a toll on farmers and pork consumers in the southern Tanzania district of Mbozi in Mbeya region, according to latest findings.
Though, over the years, farmers have derived good incomes from the industry, pork could lose ground as diseases and parasites affecting both pig herds and humans increase.
“A lot of smallholder farmers in the southern highland regions of Tanzania have zealously taken up pig husbandry, but their traditional production systems are fuelling the spread of parasitic diseases such as the African swine fever and porcine cysticercosis,” says Dr Eliakunda Kimbi of Uyole Livestock Research Centre in Mbeya region.
“Our recent research findings show that 16 percent of the population of Mbozi district are suffering from neurocysticercosis,” Kimbi told PANA, explaining that in some victims of the parasite the infection manifests as epilepsy.
The disease has been spotted in both Tanzania and Mozambique, according to reports presented in Dar es Salaam at a meeting of animal scientists from the two countries, which was also attended by their counterparts from Zambia, South Africa and Denmark.
Organised under the auspices of Copenhagen University, the two-day meeting brought together academics and PhD and Master degree students to explore ways of securing rural livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Mozambique and Tanzania through improved pig production.
“With funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), we have initiated a research project aiming to develop and assess evidence-based, safe and profitable smallholder pig production systems in the two African countries,” said the project coordinator, Professor Maria Vang Johansen.
By using locally available resources, she explained, the project would involve private entrepreneurs in the supply of necessary tools, while training and education about proper pig production was extended to beneficiaries from farm to university level.
In the two countries, the project is centred at the Animal Science and Production Department of Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, and Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
Experts maintain that poor husbandry and associated diseases have severely hindered the potential of improved pig productivity in Eastern and Southern Africa. As a result, not only production is curtailed, but the situation also leads to capital loss and poses a threat to public health.
With the ultimate goal of raising food security in the region, they point out that there is need for further research because there are no simple solutions to current snags.
While a high level of food safety requires national political will and commitment to put in place effective marketing and retail system, the experts add that effective management and control of livestock diseases should be the responsibility of farmers and their field advisers.
“Very often we find pigs confined in a small pen which is rarely cleaned. But the pig is a very intelligent and clean animal that would never dung and sleep on the same spot if given enough room. Unfortunately, it has fallen victim to poor management,” remarked a participant of the conference.
According to Professor Faustin Lekule of Sokoine University of Agriculture, small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa can strike it rich in a short span of time through proper pig breeding.
“They experience low productivity due to lack of adequate knowledge of good management and feeding,” he said.
Lekule, who doubles as an academic, farmer and animal feeds producer, suggested that free range as a system of pig rearing by small farmers should be discouraged though it’s a cheap way for the animals to find food and water for themselves.
“The most effective strategy should aim at elimination of traditional outdoor pig rearing practices by teaching farmers how to feed the animals on a variety of feeds available in their neighbourhood including tubers, wastes from grain mills, local brews and vegetables which are usually thrown away.
“In addition, local authorities should pass by-laws prohibiting farmers to let their pigs roam about villages and ensure sanitation of their pigsties,” Lekule suggested.
Putting accent on health management and disease control, he said that improved production would safeguard the farmers’ livelihoods and the health of pork consumers. Besides goat meat, pork has become a popular delicacy in Tanzanian bars, where it is disguisedly called " kiti moto" (hot seat in Kiswahili language).
When pork is not well done, especially if the pig was infected with cysts, it carries the risk of passing on the parasites to the consumer.
Veterinary officers and livestock researchers in Tanzania have confirmed that consumers in rural areas were often sold uninspected meat due to lack of designated slaughter places and scarcity of meat inspectors.
There have been frequent outbreaks of swine fever in Mbeya region simply because there is no effective vaccine for the disease. Its eradication from an infected area is by quarantine, slaughter and burying infected animals but its germs can survive for long periods on fomites.
The region accounts for 23 per cent of Tanzania’s estimated pig population of 500,000. There are about 300,000 pig breeders in the country and, according to available statistics, 18 per cent of all livestock keepers in Tanzania are smallholder pig producers.
Pig production is concentrated in the southern regions of Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa and Ruvuma as well as in the northern district of Mbulu in Manyara region
“The 16 percent of neurocysticercosis found in Mbozi district indicates the urgent need for concerted efforts to protect the pork consumers’ health. More research should be undertaken to determine the magnitude of the problem around the country because treatment of this disorder is very costly,” said Kimbi.
“All pig farmers have only one thing in mind – and that is doing business for profit. The government should guide them to improve farm operations and establish a well-managed market,” he added.
DANIDA has set aside US$1.5 million for the project up to mid-2014.
-0- PANA AR/MA 5Oct2011
Though, over the years, farmers have derived good incomes from the industry, pork could lose ground as diseases and parasites affecting both pig herds and humans increase.
“A lot of smallholder farmers in the southern highland regions of Tanzania have zealously taken up pig husbandry, but their traditional production systems are fuelling the spread of parasitic diseases such as the African swine fever and porcine cysticercosis,” says Dr Eliakunda Kimbi of Uyole Livestock Research Centre in Mbeya region.
“Our recent research findings show that 16 percent of the population of Mbozi district are suffering from neurocysticercosis,” Kimbi told PANA, explaining that in some victims of the parasite the infection manifests as epilepsy.
The disease has been spotted in both Tanzania and Mozambique, according to reports presented in Dar es Salaam at a meeting of animal scientists from the two countries, which was also attended by their counterparts from Zambia, South Africa and Denmark.
Organised under the auspices of Copenhagen University, the two-day meeting brought together academics and PhD and Master degree students to explore ways of securing rural livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Mozambique and Tanzania through improved pig production.
“With funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), we have initiated a research project aiming to develop and assess evidence-based, safe and profitable smallholder pig production systems in the two African countries,” said the project coordinator, Professor Maria Vang Johansen.
By using locally available resources, she explained, the project would involve private entrepreneurs in the supply of necessary tools, while training and education about proper pig production was extended to beneficiaries from farm to university level.
In the two countries, the project is centred at the Animal Science and Production Department of Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, and Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
Experts maintain that poor husbandry and associated diseases have severely hindered the potential of improved pig productivity in Eastern and Southern Africa. As a result, not only production is curtailed, but the situation also leads to capital loss and poses a threat to public health.
With the ultimate goal of raising food security in the region, they point out that there is need for further research because there are no simple solutions to current snags.
While a high level of food safety requires national political will and commitment to put in place effective marketing and retail system, the experts add that effective management and control of livestock diseases should be the responsibility of farmers and their field advisers.
“Very often we find pigs confined in a small pen which is rarely cleaned. But the pig is a very intelligent and clean animal that would never dung and sleep on the same spot if given enough room. Unfortunately, it has fallen victim to poor management,” remarked a participant of the conference.
According to Professor Faustin Lekule of Sokoine University of Agriculture, small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa can strike it rich in a short span of time through proper pig breeding.
“They experience low productivity due to lack of adequate knowledge of good management and feeding,” he said.
Lekule, who doubles as an academic, farmer and animal feeds producer, suggested that free range as a system of pig rearing by small farmers should be discouraged though it’s a cheap way for the animals to find food and water for themselves.
“The most effective strategy should aim at elimination of traditional outdoor pig rearing practices by teaching farmers how to feed the animals on a variety of feeds available in their neighbourhood including tubers, wastes from grain mills, local brews and vegetables which are usually thrown away.
“In addition, local authorities should pass by-laws prohibiting farmers to let their pigs roam about villages and ensure sanitation of their pigsties,” Lekule suggested.
Putting accent on health management and disease control, he said that improved production would safeguard the farmers’ livelihoods and the health of pork consumers. Besides goat meat, pork has become a popular delicacy in Tanzanian bars, where it is disguisedly called " kiti moto" (hot seat in Kiswahili language).
When pork is not well done, especially if the pig was infected with cysts, it carries the risk of passing on the parasites to the consumer.
Veterinary officers and livestock researchers in Tanzania have confirmed that consumers in rural areas were often sold uninspected meat due to lack of designated slaughter places and scarcity of meat inspectors.
There have been frequent outbreaks of swine fever in Mbeya region simply because there is no effective vaccine for the disease. Its eradication from an infected area is by quarantine, slaughter and burying infected animals but its germs can survive for long periods on fomites.
The region accounts for 23 per cent of Tanzania’s estimated pig population of 500,000. There are about 300,000 pig breeders in the country and, according to available statistics, 18 per cent of all livestock keepers in Tanzania are smallholder pig producers.
Pig production is concentrated in the southern regions of Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa and Ruvuma as well as in the northern district of Mbulu in Manyara region
“The 16 percent of neurocysticercosis found in Mbozi district indicates the urgent need for concerted efforts to protect the pork consumers’ health. More research should be undertaken to determine the magnitude of the problem around the country because treatment of this disorder is very costly,” said Kimbi.
“All pig farmers have only one thing in mind – and that is doing business for profit. The government should guide them to improve farm operations and establish a well-managed market,” he added.
DANIDA has set aside US$1.5 million for the project up to mid-2014.
-0- PANA AR/MA 5Oct2011
