Anzoa is profiting from pigs

Clara Anzoa Aya’s pig farm is just five kilometres from Moyo town in Cecelea West village in Moyo district.
It is not difficult to trace it, thanks to the boda boda riders. Anzoa, a former bar maid keeps 73 mature Large White pigs in a 20 by 20 feet pigsty.
Currently, she has no piglets having sold 40 two-and-a-half-month-olds to clients including a local youth group from Adjumani at Shs150,000 each recently.
“I want to clear this stock and bring in a new set of pigs,” says Anzoa, as she feeds the animals that are hardy and offer large litters.

Starting
The 39-year-old, who houses the pigs according to their ages, credits the venture to her love for the animals and desire to diversify her income.
Before the piggery venture, Anzoa was keeping chicken. She started keeping the animals in 2011 after visiting a pig farm in Gulu, where the farmer reared 150 pigs on a tiny land.
Back to Moyo District, Anzoa purchased seven pregnant sows from farmers in the neighbouring Adjumani District at Shs200,000 each, exclusive of transport costs.
“I put them in a small building in my backyard. In a month’s time they had furrowed and I had 90 piglets necessitating me to construct a pen for them,” says the farmer, who keeps the animals on part of her one-acre family land.

Care
Anzoa clips the teeth of the piglets soon after they are born so that when they suckle, they do not bite the mother.
In addition, the farmer administers iron injection on day three and 21 respectively to boost their immunity.
A shortage of iron results in lower levels of hemoglobin in the red cells (anaemia), a lowered capacity for the carriage of oxygen around the body and an increased susceptibility to diseases.
At the pigsty, the farmer has a tracker pasted on every pen, which he uses to monitor them. It captures date of arrival, their age, vaccines, treatment and the date to leave the pen for sale.
And the rains set in bringing in a cold weather, Anzoa has a warning to pig farmers.
“When it gets cold, you have to observe them closely. When it so cold, they are prone to pneumonia, thus, they need a clean and dry pigsty.”

Demand for pork
“When I started, there were about five butcheries in Moyo town with the biggest in the market, right now there are about 16 which shows demand for pork has risen,” says the mother of three.

To know how much to sell pigs, he advises one should calculate the input cost from the time the pigs are born.“If a sow gives birth to 10 piglets, they will approximately consume 10 to 15 kilogramme bags of feeds each by the time they mature. Each bag costs Shs70,000.”
The farmer introduces feeds to piglets when they are two months. At day 21, they are given pellets so that they do not suckle a lot.
She feeds the pigs on vegetables that are nutritious and make the pig lean. A lean pig will fetch you more cash than one with plenty of fat.
“I supplement commercial feeds with cabbage leaves and kitchen waste. In a week I buy two to three bags of commercial feeds summing up to Shs140,000.”

Profits
“A lean pig will fetch you Shs9,000 per kilogramme and above depending on the market, unlike a fat pig that will fetch you Shs7,000 to Shs8,000 per kilogramme,” says Anzoa.
Her market is in Moyo, Adjumani, Gulu, Arua, Lira and Kitgum districts. In 2016, Anzoa says she sold 100 pigs each pig at Shs350,000 and made Shs35m. She also retails pork at Moyo market. “I sell the big pigs at Moyo market in, customers buy the pork at Shs9,000 per kilogramme,” she says.
After subtracting the expenditure on feeds, staff and transportation, Anzoa remains with Shs26m from the sale of 100 pigs.

Poultry
In addition to the pigs, Anzoa set up a highly innovative poultry farming project. She keeps more than 500 broilers and 600 chicks. She says on maturity she sells each broiler at Shs15,000.

Future plan
Anzoa said she intends to set up vocational training school, make the quarter acre land size in her home as a breeding ground and construct a fattening zone in her newly acquired land.
She said she will soon embark on breeding chicks from her farm since transporting them from Kampala manifests with a lot of challenges such as loss of the chicks due to harsh weather and poor handling while in transit.
Anzoa, said she will also introduce nipple system of watering for the pigs which require regular watering.