- Sahia said in desperation to get steady supply of pork he was forced to buy three extra pigs at Sh35,000 each and keep them for a month before slaughtering, this gave him the idea to start pig farming.
- A pig is ready for sale three months after birth and matures at 6 months while a sow can be serviced at nine months.
In entrepreneurship getting solutions for challenges creates room for opportunities to thrive an make profit.
A former pig butchery investor in Isebania town, Mogendi Sahia in 2017 opened a butchery to feed the growing demand of pork lovers sourcing for the delicacy from as far as Tanzania.
Sahia said in desperation to get steady supply of pork he was forced to buy three extra pigs at Sh35,000 each and keep them for a month before slaughtering, this gave him the idea to start pig farming.
“Before I could slaughter them I realised one was pregnant and the other gave birth to a dozen piglets,” Sahia said.
Later, the client who was supplying him with pigs called and said she was disposing off about 50 animals due to feeds challenges.
“I saw an opportunity and invested Sh300,000 to put up a structure on a 50-by-100 plot and feeds to ensure a steady supply of pork in my butchery, my pig farming venture began,” he said.
With time, ploughing back on animal sell and profits from butchery, Sahia said currently, he has a structure that can keep 300 pigs and is working on a second one in another 50-by-100 plot.
“Right now I have about 150 pigs in this small strip of land, I have divided the units in small paddocks, left a good drainage system and I have placed nipple water points to avoid infections,” Sahia said.
To build the pigsty, Sahia divided each paddock in 2-by-2.5 metres with a small corridor in between and the feeding troughs are placed separately.
“I have about 30 paddocks built at waist high for ventilation with small metallic gates," Sahia said.
"I used a nipple drinker which only gives water by sucking as this keeps prevents pigs urine that can cause more diseases, excess water is drained away."
Sahia said his pigs are clean compared to stereotype that they are dirty animals.
The paddocks are cleaned twice and pigs fed thrice with water being pumped from a river few metres away.”
“A paddock can hold a sow with 6-12 piglets and within four days I remove canines to avoid affecting mother’s nipple and prevent them hurting each other in fight," he said.
"Four weeks later, I wean them to the next paddock ."
He keeps only two breeds of pigs: the Large White, which can grow to 350-450kgs and Duroc which are much smaller.
“Large White produces best bacon and are best choice for commercial firms making sausages, Duroc are better for pork,” he said.
Sahia said he chose pig farming because they mature faster and offer quick return on investment.
A pig is ready for sale three months after birth and matures at 6 months while a sow can be serviced at nine months.
“A sow can farrow twice a year and gives you 6-12 piglets, which can't be compared to other farm animals,” Sahia said.
Feed shortage
Sahia said the biggest challenge facing him and other farmers is the high cost of feed and erratic supply for sunflower seed cake, the main source of protein.
“In Kenya I have five acres under sunflower farming, in Tanzania I have about 30 acres but it's not enough," he said.
He started importing up to 30 tonnes of sunflower seed cake but the demand has been high because many farmers have been sourcing it from him.
Sahia said he has sourced for an oil pressing machine from China that will help start up a sunflower factory in Kenya but his main challenge remains steady supply from farmers.
“When tobacco farming failed, several farmers started sunflower farming but stopped after organisations that promised to buy from them disappeared," he said.
"I have already contracted 20 farmers who will offer a steady supply, we will work with others once we get the machine."
He is confident that sunflower farming will thrive because the crop can grow without fertilisers, requires weeding once and takes three months to mature.
“The biggest challenge is birds, to counter this we often plant sunflower after maize to avoid major loses,” he said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)