Fresh Opportunities For Pig Farmers As Demand For Pork Rises

IN the face of increasing cost of beef, goat meat and chicken, the demand for pork meat has increased tremendously in the last few months, as more Nigerians shift focus to this meat as alternative to beef.

Market survey indicates that its demand has increased substantially in major cities across the country, boosting the industry's growth, sales and demand of the meat.

Based on the high patronage it has enjoyed within the shortest time, the price of a kilogramme of the meat previously sold about N1,600 has jumped to N3,000.

According to stakeholders, the development has not only increased the income of pig farmers, it has also encouraged new entrants into the business, which has large market within and outside the country.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation ( FAO), recently projected pork consumption to increase by 3.3 per cent in Africa, including Nigeria by the year 2050.

But despite the potential the business holds, farmers in Nigeria seemed handicapped due to array of challenges, which include lack of information, ignorance on disease- control mechanism, high cost of feed and others, which have hampered its growth over the years.

A pork dealer based in Badagry, Lagos State, Emeka Iwuchukwuaniebue, who confirmed that he has been experiencing good patronage for pork meat, however, lamented that for one week he has been unable to get pig supply, which has affected availability of pork meat for his customers. "Pig is now very scarce, even if I get supply, the meat is not enough to sell to the people that are waiting to buy. Sometimes, it is just like wasting transportation fare when you get to the markets and discover that pigs are not available to buy. The method I have devised now is to buy from people who buy directly from the farms."

A pig farmer, Chidozie Onyema, said: "the demand is very high from this side. This is because people can no longer afford beef, goat meat, chicken and others, which are very expensive now. So, pork meats tend to be a bit pocket friendly. A kilogramme of pork meat was about N1,600 but with the increase in demand, it has increased to about N3,000 recently, depending on the market and area. If you buy a kilogramme, it will be much more than the beef bought for the same amount.

"I have not started selling my animals because of the limited number that have. I intend to grow the numbers, so that they can multiply before I start selling to those that want to sell them as pork meat.

"If you intend selling the animals to pork meat sellers, you have to feed them properly, which may take up to a year or nine months, depending on how well you feed them. For now, I can only sell to someone who wants to set up his or her own farm, I have growers to sell," he said.

While advising Nigerians to explore the line of business, Onyema, who said piggery, is capital intensive, said new entrants can start small. "You can start with male and female piglets. Around here in Badagry, you can get it for as low as N30, 000. For the pigs, they have different sizes; it depends on the particular breed you want to get.

"For me personally, I started when a friend of mine told me he wanted to sell his animals, it was more like a distress sale. The pig was fully grown and pregnant at the time. For people that want to start, you can start very small.

"The challenges I have been facing is feeding them because I run it by myself. So, I have like two different feeds I use, one is called PKC, that is like an extraction from malt. I get it from a company in Agbara. I also mix it with soya beans shaft. I get a bag for about N8, 000now; when I started it was like N5, 000. Basically for me, the challenge is just feeding them.

"Their vaccination is not too expensive. There's this kit I bought for them, it contains deworming, antibiotics and multivitamins. Deworming is to deworm them, antibiotics is to kill all the bacterial. Another issue is cleaning.

"Pig farming demands clean and spacious environment for the well- being of the pigs to avoid contacting diseases. The number of pig farmers in Nigeria is not enough to meet up with the demands of millions of consumers. There's a need for educating potential farmers on the process of pig farming and how to maintain a sustainable farm to curb the issue of scarcity," advised. Another farmer based in Arigbajo, Ogun State, Soji Owoeye, said there's need for improvement in pig farming practices and encouragement to attract new people into the business.