Pig Sector: Fresh Impetus To Relaunch Production

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Pig Sector: Fresh Impetus To Relaunch Production

13 sept. 2022 19:01

Prominent amongst the actions is the imminent importation of 360 high breeding pig species to boost production after the outbreak of African swine fever in August-September 2021 that ravaged the sector.

National demand for animal products is higher than national production. The gap continues to widen while production remains stagnant. Total annual meat production is 265,816 tonnes with pork constituting just about 13 per cent. The low production is further compounded with the frequent outbreak of the epizootic African swine fever epidemic in production basins. In a bid to relaunch the sector therefore, various actors are taking measures aimed not only at boosting production in the sector but also to sustain and professionalize production as a business. The last outbreak of the epizootic African swine fever ravaged 22.5 per cent of Cameroon’s pig herd. As a first step to relaunch the sector, the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries through the Livestock Development Project (PRODEL) funded by the World Bank, imported 100 high breeding pig-parents from Europe and were transferred to the breeding station in Kounden, in the Western region which happens to be the major production basin. According to PRODEL oficials, the aim is to continue and intensify the actions underway at the Kounden Station in order to produce high-performance breeding stock for producers via the renewal of grandparents intended for the production of male and female progenies. The government is engaged in the process to rejuvenate the sector since 2014 and it is supported by some foreign donors, who finance programs aimed at strengthening the renewal of the genetic capital of the pig herd in Cameroon. The Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries is also announcing the import in the coming days of a new shipment of 360 breeding pigs, after those imported in February 2022. The Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr. Taïga, said recently on State Television (CRTV) that “we are in a phase where there is already low productivity due to inbreeding, and we must renew the genetics.” This announcement by the Minister is corroborated by a notice of a call for tenders launched by the Project for the Development of Livestock and Fish Farming Value Chain Development Project (PDCVEP) to import 360 high breeding pigs. The supply of the breeding pigs will be made in three batches, for an overall amount of FCFA 5.5 million. Thi...