Shop on Impakter Eco
  • Women
  • Men
  • Kids
  • Beautycare
  • Home & Living
  • Food & Drinks
  • Pets
Impakter
  • Shop Eco
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
    • Entertainment
    • Literature
    • Music
    • Photography
  • Style
    • Architecture
    • Design
    • Fashion
    • Foodscape
    • Lifestyle
  • Society
    • Business
    • Environment
    • Foreign Affairs & Politics
    • Health
    • Tech
    • Science
    • Start-up
  • Impact
    • Eco Life
    • Circular Economy
    • COP26
    • CityLife
      • Copenhagen
      • San Francisco
      • Seattle
      • Sydney
    • Sustainability Series
      • SDGs Series
      • Shape Your Future
      • 2030: Dream or Reality
    • Philanthropy
      • United Nations
      • NGO & Charities
      • Essays
    • Your Voice
      • Empower Earth
      • Empower Equality
  • SUSTAINABILITY INDEX
  • Startup-Hub
    • Companies
    • Investors
    • Organisations
    • Jobs
    • Events
  • Partners
  • About
    • Team
    • Global Leaders
    • Contributors
    • Write for Impakter
    • IMPAKTER Italy
    • Republishing Content
    • Permissions and Copyright
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Impakter
No Result
View All Result
Home Society Business

Quality Food in Africa: The Challenges Facing Pig Production in Cameroon

Jean Armand Bokally Dande - JournalistbyJean Armand Bokally Dande - Journalist
February 20, 2019
in Business, Environment, GFAR Series, SDG Series, Society
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Pig production in Cameroon, similar to many other African countries, requires good entrepreneurial skills. The trade is often unorganized, production costs high, and animal diseases common. Success is a real challenge, despite this, pig farmer Jonas Tchenda has managed his production successfully since 1978.

Forget about co-operation, big chain stores pushing margins, and meat packers dominating markets. Tchendas’ graveyard in Nkozoa, a town outside Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, has four hundred pigs, making the graveyard one of the largest farms in Cameroon. Tchendas’ family-run complex covers an area of 200 square meters, enabling him to breed a wide variety of animals: sows, pearls, geese, ducks, chickens and piglets and pigs for fattening.

In the photo: Pig and piglet on Tchenda’s farm. Photo Credit: Jean Armand Bokally Dande.

At the age of two, Tchenda sells his animals directly to slaughter, or for feeding. The animals to be slaughtered are sold to merchants or to festivity organisers, in order to avoid the hassle of the pig production’s sticky trading market. Interestingly, Tchenda explains how one valuable and heavy pig can legally bring him 300-400,000 francs (CFA), approximately 450-600 Euros for his income.

Different Challenges in Cameroon’s Pig Production

Cameroon’s development of animal husbandry has encountered many adversities in recent years, including swine flu, reproductive disorders and parasites. In 2014, African swine fever (ASF) strongly shook the pork market, making good meat increasingly rare. In addition to these adversities, production prices are accelerating to higher costs. Also, unorganized management often leads to inbreeding and low fertility risk in the pigs, making the market considerably difficult to navigate. Certified slaughterhouses and processing plants are few, and there is no guarantee the meat will be cared for in the correct way.

“There is no market for pork in Yaounde, every producer organizes sales in a way that suits him best” says Tchenda.

In the Photo: Mr Tchenda on his farm. Photo Credit: Jean Armand Bokally Dande.

Breeding

Tchenda’s farm complex is divided into several sectors, each one is nine square meters in size. Moreover, each department contains one or two hybrid pigs. The animals are a mixture of species of Large White, Duroc and sometimes local species.

“The local species are more resistant to disease. They also have another benefit, they can be 36 kilograms in six months. A good pig should weigh it” says Tchenda.

He usually uses pigs from his own farm for breeding as a precaution, as many producers are vague in revealing the age of their animals. To maintain the amount of animals on the farm, he castrates the males and the boars with the potential to breed, in order to possess extra good food. He mostly receives the animals’ food from the Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (IRAD) in Nkolbisson, six kilometers east of Yaounde. The rest of the food is grown by himself, or bought from other pig farmers in western Cameroon.

The food consists of a mixture of ingredients: starters from breweries, palm kernel flour, corn, soybeans, peanuts, ground fish, wheat flour, bone flour, shells, palm oil and sugar cake.

“The amount of ingredients varies for different types of pigs. For example, I give half less amount of corn, peanuts and others high fat foods to the breeding pigs against the pigs that are going to slaughter,” says Tchenda.

In the photo: Pig and piglet on Tchenda’s farm. Photo Credit: Jean Armand Bokally Dande.

A Better Future

Following the recent Ebola eruptions in several African countries, the so called “bush meat” (meat from wildlife), decreased in popularity and has been banned from many places of sale. Instead, it has become more common to eat pork at home, in restaurants and also in street kitchens.

Consequently, Cameroon Prime Minister Philemon Yang started a project in 2012 to help improve farmers market and animal breeders. As a part of this project, the ministry for animal husbandry has recently imported 77 breeding pigs from France, six of which were pigs and the remaining sows, with the aim to introduce new blood into the pig industry. This is a small progress on a global scale, however the chances of great success for Cameroon and Tchenda are minimal due to the shortcomings in the market.

However, Tchenda has seen his sector change and develop since the seventies, and has still managed to send all his children to school. For now, his farm holds an exemplary reputation within the pig breeding industry, as his success continues.

In the photo: Piglets on Tchenda’s farm. Photo Credit: Jean Armand Bokally Dande.

Editors Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com. — In the Featured photo: A Pig on Tchenda’s farm. Photo Credit: Jean Armand Bokally Dande.
Tags: AgricultureCameroonGFARGFARimpaktersJean Armand Bokally DandePig BreedingPig FarmingQuality Food
Previous Post

To achieve sustainability, we need to change behavior first

Next Post

CLIMATE . CHANGE – Episode 1 – With Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation

Jean Armand Bokally Dande - Journalist

Jean Armand Bokally Dande - Journalist

Jean Armand Bokally Dande is a prize-winning journalist from Cameroon, interested by topics related to the food industry, development and science. He was one of the 10 journalists of the Developing World named for the IFAJ/DuPont Pioneer 2017 Master Class in South Africa. After his study at the University of Douala, he followed a certificate course on C4D at CARIMAC. He pitches for some magazines throughout the world and is the promoter of the Agricultural Innovations Foundation in Cameroon.

Related Posts

One of Earth’s Driest Places Sees 75% of Annual Rainfall in Just 3 Hours
Climate Change

One of Earth’s Driest Places Sees 75% of Annual Rainfall in Just 3 Hours

August 11, 2022
SiTration Raises $ 2.3M To Further Develop Its Battery Recycling Technology
Green Finance

SiTration Raises $ 2.3M To Further Develop Its Battery Recycling Technology

August 11, 2022
Taiwan Crisis: China Ends Military Drills, Withdraws Promise to Not Send Troops to Taiwan “After Unification”
Politics & Foreign Affairs

Taiwan: Could China’s War Games Turn Real?

August 11, 2022
Next Post
CLIMATE . CHANGE – Episode 1 – With Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation

CLIMATE . CHANGE - Episode 1 - With Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation

Please login to join discussion

Recent News

One of Earth’s Driest Places Sees 75% of Annual Rainfall in Just 3 Hours

One of Earth’s Driest Places Sees 75% of Annual Rainfall in Just 3 Hours

August 11, 2022
SiTration Raises $ 2.3M To Further Develop Its Battery Recycling Technology

SiTration Raises $ 2.3M To Further Develop Its Battery Recycling Technology

August 11, 2022
For Sustainable Urban Logistics, Data Makes All the Difference

For Sustainable Urban Logistics, Data Makes All the Difference

August 11, 2022
impakter-logo-light

Impakter informs you through the eco news site and empowers your sustainable lifestyle with its eco products marketplace.

Visit here IMPAKTER ECO for your eco products needs.

Registered Office Address

32 Lots Road, London
SW10 0QJ, United Kingdom


IMPAKTER Limited

Company number: 10806931

Impakter is a publication that is identified by the following International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is the following 2515-9569 (Printed) and 2515-9577 (online – Website).


Office Hours - Monday to Friday

9.30am - 5.00pm CEST


Email

stories [at] impakter.com

About Us

  • Team
  • Contributors
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Partners

By Audience

  • Lifestyle
  • Green Finance
  • Culture
  • Society
  • Style
  • Impact

Impakter Platforms

  • Media
  • Up
  • Index
  • Eco for Sellers
  • Impakter Pro

© 2022 IMPAKTER. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Culture
  • Style
  • Society
  • Impact
  • ECO Products Shop – Try now!
  • INDEX – Sustainability Index
  • UP – Startup Hub
  • About
    • Partners
    • Team
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
Impakter.com uses cookies to enhance your experience when visiting the website and to serve you with advertisements that might interest you. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.