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| Figure 1. Pig population in Botswana (2004 to 2009) |
| Livestock Research for Rural Development 23 (4) 2011 | Notes to Authors | LRRD Newsletter | Citation of this paper |
In this paper, the performance of the pig industry in Botswana is evaluated and the opportunities and challenges highlighted. The pig industry has not experienced significant growth since its inception in the early 1970s. Currently, local pork production is lower than imports and it accounts for 29.1% of the country’s total annual pork requirements, which are estimated to be about 1521 tonnes. The industry employs about 210 people (165 men and 45 women), indicating that it plays a role in poverty reduction, food security and economic empowerment.
Meat processors and butcheries are the major markets for local pig farmers. The per capita consumption of pork is estimated to be less than one kilogramme per person per year, which is low by world’s standard. The major challenges to the pig industry are inadequate slaughter facilities, unorganized marketing, inadequate supply of breeding stock, high price of feeds, as well as, low quality feeds. Opportunities exist in breeding and in starting new pig enterprises or expanding existing ones.
Keywords: Breeding facility, imports, local production, per capita consumption, pig meat
Although commercial pig production started in the early 1970s, the industry has not grown significantly compared to other industries such as poultry which has reached self-sufficiency levels. However, the demand for pig meat continues to rise. In the opinion of Chabo et al (2000), the increased demand in pig meat and products is related to household income and nutritional awareness.
Commercial pig population in Botswana is estimated to be 13057 (Mphinyane 2010). Additionally, pig meat production and processed pork imports are estimated to be 443 tonnes and 1078 tonnes, respectively. Galeboe et al (2009) estimated Botswana’s market share of pork to be approximately 0.06% of Africa’s output and 0.0005% of the world’s output. The imports of pork and pork products are greater than local production, indicating that opportunities exist to start new pig farms or to expand existing ones. Although Chabo et al (2000) previously reported that imports and local pork production were equal, currently imports are greater than local pig meat production. The per capita consumption of pork is estimated to be about one kilogramme per person per year (Mphinyane 2009, 2010).
The piggery sub-sector is dominated by adult male farmers (Galeboe et al 2009; Dipholo 2010) According to Chabo et al (2010), pig producers in Botswana are mainly concentrated in the cities and big villages where the market and the demand for pig products are high. The local meat processors and butcheries serve as the major markets for pig farmers. There is also inadequate supply of weaner pigs and replacement breeding stock. Presently, the government’ pig multiplication farm situated in Sebele (10 km north east of Gaborone) is not able to cope with the increased demand for weaners and breeding stock (gilts and boars).
The performance of the pig industry is unsatisfactory; hence the need for a review. Therefore, the objective of this review was to highlight the performance of the pig industry.
The main production systems practised are intensive and semi-intensive. However, the common production system is semi-intensive, especially in small-scale pig production. In the intensive system, pigs are completely housed and fed complete diets. In this system, pigs are shifted from one pen to another according to the production stage, until they reach market weight, i.e., 50 to 100 kg. On the other hand, in the semi-intensive system, some classes of pigs are kept outside the pig shelters, e.g., boars and sows stay within a perimeter fence where water, feeds and shade are provided. In both intensive and semi-intensive systems, breeding is controlled. In order to induce heat, boars are reared proximal to the sows. As in the intensive system, the offsprings in the semi-intensive system are completely confined and fed complete diets until they reach market age.
This breeding facility which was established in 1975 has been and continues to supply weaners (18-20 kg liveweight) and breeding stock (gilts and boars) to the local pig farmers (Piggery Annual Report 1997; Kolare 1999) and serve as a demonstration farm (Kolare 1999). Pigs from the Sebele facility are sold to farmers and institutions of learning such as secondary schools at subsidized prices as a way of encouraging and promoting pig production in the country.
Currently, commercial pig population in Botswana is estimated to be 13057 (Table 1). In 2009, Francistown and Gaborone produced 2813 and 3525 pigs, respectively, thus making the two centres the major pig producing areas in Botswana. Together, the two centres produced 6338 pigs, representing 48.5% of the total pigs produced in 2009.
The pig populations from 2004 to 2009 are illustrated in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 1, the pig population declined in 2005 and 2007 by -770 and -3163 pigs, respectively. The decline in pig population is due to the outbreaks of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) in July-August in 2005 in the Eastern and Western Cape in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) (Piggery Annual Report 2006/07). From 2004 to 2009, the pig population increased by on average 1055 pigs per year.
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Table 1. Pig population by category across the districts in 2009 |
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|
Location |
Boars |
Sows |
Piglets |
Weaners |
Gilts |
Porkers |
Total |
|
S/Phikwe |
51 |
144 |
35 |
75 |
113 |
386 |
804(6.16) |
|
Palapye |
23 |
117 |
115 |
67 |
125 |
70 |
517(3.96) |
|
Mahalapye |
37 |
159 |
22 |
218 |
45 |
186 |
667(5.11) |
|
Serowe |
21 |
58 |
37 |
236 |
108 |
4 |
464(3.55) |
|
Molepolole |
24 |
148 |
137 |
203 |
74 |
134 |
720(5.51) |
|
Mochudi |
43 |
232 |
300 |
305 |
0 |
505 |
1385(10.6) |
|
Gaborone |
128 |
550 |
746 |
591 |
215 |
583 |
2813(21.5) |
|
Kanye |
45 |
292 |
376 |
531 |
119 |
254 |
1617(12.4) |
|
Francistown |
82 |
616 |
585 |
962 |
84 |
1196 |
3525(27.0) |
|
Maun |
10 |
34 |
79 |
13 |
15 |
75 |
226(1.73) |
|
Letlhakane |
22 |
56 |
64 |
50 |
94 |
0 |
286(2.19) |
|
Hukuntsi |
1 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
33(0.25) |
|
Total |
487 |
2412 |
2519 |
3254 |
992 |
3393 |
13 057 |
|
Values in brackets are percentages |
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| Figure 1. Pig population in Botswana (2004 to 2009) |
In 2009, pig meat production and imports were estimated to be 443 tonnes and 1078 tonnes, respectively (Mphinyane 2010). This implies that annual pork requirements for Botswana are approximately 1521 tonnes. Local pig meat production accounts for only 29.1% of the country’s total pig meat requirements.
Figure 2 shows that from 2002 to 2009 pork imports were greater than local pig meat production except for the year 2007. According to Mphinyane (2008), the decline in imports in 2007 was attributable to improper handling of import data by the Department of Animal Production and Department of Veterinary Services, which resulted in some data not being captured. It is clear from Figure 2 that local pig meat production has not increased over time. This result is in agreement with Galeboe et al (2009). Similarly, imports declined over time. The reason for the decline is unknown given that pork production is lower than imports.
According to Piggery Annual Report (2005/06; 2006/07), the decline of pork imports in 2005 as illustrated in Figure 2 is ascribable to the outbreaks of CSF in RSA resulting in the banning of imports of live pigs and processed pork products into Botswana.
 |
| Figure 2. Pig meat production vs. pork imports from 2002 to 2009 |
In Botswana, pig meat marketing is unorganized (PSAR 2007/08, 2009/10). According to Kolare (1999) and Chabo et al (2000), the major markets for pig farmers are local meat processors and butcheries. Galeboe et al (2009) observed that the three target markets that the farmers have access to are individuals, traders and other farmers. The first two target markets are basically pork-based while the latter relates to exchange of animals between the farmers.
Usually, the buying price of pork is determined by the buyers and is low probably explaining why the pig industry has not experienced significant growth over time. Ramokopelwa (2010) reported that retailers buy pig meat from farmers at a price below production cost resulting in farmers going out of business as they cannot make profits. In their study, Galeboe et al (2009) reported that 92% of respondents said that buyers required fresh pig meat which they further processed and packaged on their own or utilise specialised processors such as Senn Foods and other butcheries.
The study of Galeboe et al (2009) showed that the word of mouth is by far the most relied upon medium of marketing used by farmers (reported by 60% of the respondents). Other marketing strategies used by farmers included making presentations to potential buyers and/or a combination of presentations with distribution of business cards.
The main challenges to pig production include:
Inadequate extension service. This is attributable to inadequacy of staff, lack of transport and vastness of some districts (Piggery Annual Report 1997; 2005/06; Moreki 2010). Also, extension staff are inadequately technically equipped to render technical advice to the pig farmers;
High feed prices (PSAR 2007/08). A recent study of Galeboe et al (2009) reported that 84% of the respondents cited high feed costs to be a major constraint in pig production followed by lack of working capital to run the enterprise efficiently (49%), high fuel costs (24%), lack of local feed suppliers (24%) and shortage of skilled labour (24%);
Low quality feeds from local suppliers (Galeboe et al 2009);
Unavailability of water on site and land for expansion (Galeboe et al 2009);
Lack of production skills (Galeboe et al 2009) due to inadequacy of extension service;
Pests and diseases (Galeboe et al 2009);
Inadequate slaughter facilities (PSAR 2007/08; Moreki 2009);
Unorganized marketing (PSAR 2007/08, 2009/10);
High utility costs such as water and electricity (Galeboe et al 2009);
Unproductive stock (Galeboe et al 2009) probably due to poor quality stock supplied or poor management practices; and
Inadequate supply of breeding stock from Sebele pig multiplication farm (Kolare 1999).
Opportunities
The supply of pig breeding stock is grossly inadequate, indicating that an opportunity exists in breeding (Dipholo 2010). Besides the Sebele pig multiplication farm that produces breeding stock for farmers, there is no farmer that focuses solely on breeding pigs for sale to other farmers. Therefore, private operators should be encouraged to start breeding pigs in major pork producing centres such as Francistown and Gaborone.
Imports of pig meat and processed pork products are greater than local production, thus creating an opportunity to either establish new pig enterprises or expand existing ones.
Government should consider extending financial assistance to pig farmers through the Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) Programme. According to Ministry of Agriculture (2010), LIMID provides assistance to small-scale poultry producers to construct abattoirs to enable slaughter of birds under hygienic conditions.
The pig industry is experiencing non-significant growth as epitomized by high imports of pork and processed pork products, which are greater than local pork production.
There are opportunities in breeding and pig rearing. In order to increase local production, existing pig operations should be either expanded or new ones established.
Inadequacy of slaughter facilities is a major constraint in pig production. As a consequence, there is a need for government to consider extending LIMID assistance to pig production.
The authors wish to thank Mr. B. Mogorosi and pig extension staff for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.
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Received 11 October 2010; Accepted 1 March 2011; Published 1 April 2011