Back in Nairobi city I had a dream. I wanted to put up a piggery back at home in Busia county. I put my dream on paper, as I hustled for funds. But it wasn’t easy acquiring the funds and so instead of waiting for money that might never come, I set off for home empty-handed and hopeful.
Back at home with my meager savings I decided to start small like it’s advised in agribusiness when you lack sufficient funds. I invested the little I had in short term crops, especially vegetables like kales, open-field capsicum for about half a year. After that I had saved enough to help me set-up a decent pigsty and acquire two piglets.
I was excited. My dream was on course. My plan was to expand from the two piglets to becoming one of the main suppliers of pigs in Nambale, my region. But after eight months of proper care and my sows were still looking light and hardly showing signs of heat, I realized something was amiss.
I was frustrated, wondering what I was doing wrong. And then I joined a WhatsApp group of pig farmers from all over the continent via a link on Twitter. It was while here, interacting and sharing valuable information with other farmers that I came to learn what I had done wrong.
I hadn’t invested in quality pig breeds. I had purchased piglets from a neighbor who had said her pigs cross breeds and I had believed her without investigating. I later came to learn that the farmer had used a local boar of poor quality that had led to the poor offsprings. So I was stuck with pigs that consumed a lot and didn’t add weight. To say the truth, everything about the pigs was amiss.
On the group someone said, “quality breeds the first step to pig farming,” and I took hint of that.
So on November I got rid of the jokes and renovated my structure and then a few days to Christmas I went to this institution with pure breeds, Landrace and Large white and got myself a landrace piglet. The pricing was exorbitant of course but what do you expect from someone giving you quality? And the parents were giants I tell you. I have never seen such huge pigs!
Now the plan is to work with this pig and then add another one soon enough. I want to try and do everything right this time. And in a couple of months down the line I hope to come back here and give you the good news that the quality breeds worked.