Pig farming- a new project for ultra poor women

Pig farming- a new project for ultra poor women

A few weeks ago we added pig farming to our range of livelihood programmes for ultra poor women in Ntungamo district. Through this program, we provide women with an asset as well as training. these are women without capital to start enterprises and the asset we provide enables the women to generate income as well as build capital for reinvestment 

 

In the latest project, a group of 20 widows have been provided with a  two-month old pig to look after until it gives birth to the first set of piglets. At that stage the Sow as well as two piglets will become the property of the woman to enable her to grow a micro pig farm from which she can generate an income as well as well as improve the diet of her family.

These are the women that are currently enrolled on the pig project.

The women were given a piglet of the Cambarough pig breed. This breed is reportedly very good at looking after its young and  for littering up to 14 piglets from one pregnancy. This means that a woman can grow her micro farm quickly. 

Distribution  day- I am told that this was a fun day as of the piglets attempted to run away having been contained on the truck for an hour. 

The women were also given commercial feed for the piglet to enable them to settle into their new homes

Crossbreed piglets

Some of the women were given this type of piglet, which is a cross breed of a local boar and the Landrace pig.  This was a good outcome for the local man who bred them. He was given the Sow as a present by someone who had a similar objective  to us- giving an asset that the recipient can use to generate an income.

Ntungamo Pig project

This local man earned £120 by selling 9 two month old piglets into the project. This is not a great deal of money to most in the West, but for someone that had no income at all, this is a fortune.

For our part, it was a pleasure to contribute to this man’s livelihood as  well as enabling these piglets to remain in the environment they are familiar with and we hope that, they will thrive as a result. 

Local carpenter working on the pig sty

As well as working with the women on setting up these micro pig farms, we have set up a stand alone pig farm. This will enable us to provide piglets to the wider community without the need to raise more money. 

 

This is the completed pig sty. We sourced all the materials from local suppliers and used local labour. 

The pigs move in. We have started off with 4 6 and 7 month old pigs and all being well, we will have our first baby pigs in December.