Project Name：Pig Industry Enhancement Project (Eswatini)

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Africa, Kingdom of Eswatini

Project Description：Pork is available at a medium price and is the most widely accepted among all meat products in Eswatini; thus, more and more people are engaging in raising pigs as a main or side-line business. However, there is currently a shortfall in the domestic supply of pork to the market, which counts on the import of pork products to satisfy market demand.

The objective of this project is to increase the pork supply to the domestic market and to enhance the development of the swine industry in Eswatini. According to the results of project appraisal, the main challenge to pork production in Eswatini is the lack of high-quality breeding pigs. The core problem is that Mpisi National Pig Breeding Station’s (Mpisi Station) outdated feeding facilities, poor layout and lack of advanced feeding and management techniques are not able to supply sufficient breeding pigs to farmers, such that most farmers import breeding pigs from South Africa or just raise and sell pigs directly. The supply of good quality pork is highly correlated with an abattoir’s performance, but the efficiency of existing government-owned abattoirs in Swaziland remains low. Even though medium- and large-scale pig farms are equipped with simple abattoirs for the slaughter of their own or others’ pigs, the total capacity does not meet the demand for slaughtering services.

Project content will include: (1) Establishing a high-quality pig supply system; (2) improving the pig-raising environment; (3) conducting training courses on pig feeding, nutrition and management; (4) enhancing the quality of pork. The project’s work components will include: (1) Upgrading hardware at Mpisi Station and establishing a breeding pig supply system; (2) importing frozen semen, introducing artificial insemination techniques and establishing a selection mechanism and grading system; (3) assisting with piggery planning and restoration, strengthening feeding management, nutrition management and disease prevention, and exchanging relevant information and techniques via farmers’ associations; and (4) holding seminars promoting pork quality and upgrading related concepts among farmers, abattoirs and wholesalers.

Project No：TT-310-2016-002

Implementation Start Date：2016-01-01

Implementation End Date：2020-12-31

Project Objectives：A 25 percent increase in pork production in the Kingdom of Eswatini

Executing Agency：Department of Veterinary and Livestock Services, Ministry of Agriculture
Taiwan Technical Mission in the Kingdom of Eswatini

Phone：+886-2-28732323 ext.215

E-mail：l.t.huang@icdf.org.tw

Projected Benefits：1.Imported the new gilts and boards to renew the herd of breeding pigs at Mpisi Station piggery planning. Supplied 884 heads of good quality sow to small farmers.
2.Established an artificial insemination (AI) center and provided farmers with to reduce the input cost. 6,097 bottles of semen were sold in total.
3.Established a farmers’ database, which covers 1,164 farmers country wide.
4.Selected 8 ranches becoming the Mpisi’s satellite farm.
5.Held training workshops for pig breeding, feeding and management. The aggregated number of trainees is 1,712.
6.Established the standard for breeding pigs grading and testing system.

Mission：Taiwan Technical Mission in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Former Swaziland)