Ademile Victor Williams, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Liberty Farms Global Resources, Akure, Ondo State, has about 16 years experience as an agribusiness consultant with special focus on the pig sector. In this interview with Adewale Oshodi, he speaks on the opportunities in pig farming in the country and how it can help reduce unemployment.
PIG farming is not as developed in Nigeria as that of Kenya and South Africa, what will you attribute to this?
You are right to some extent. Pig farming is not as advanced in Nigeria compared to that of South Africa, Kenya and other countries in Africa. However, we are also not doing badly in Nigeria. Government must, however, give more support to pig farmers to thrive. On the part of farmers, we must see how we can add value to the society through what we are doing. We must be able to create jobs on the pork production chain. We should also not forget that pig skin can be used for leather, vegetable oil can also be produced from pork; the oil can then be used to produced some pharmaceutical products. So farmers have a lot of opportunities to tap from, but government must come to our aid. Government can create pig villages across the country and this will help reduce unemployment.
How is pig farming different from other livestock sectors?
Pigs are prolific in nature, and that means it is easy to produce more compared to other forms of livestock farming. One needs just five female pigs to produce about 60 piglets, and they can farrow two times a year. The meaning of this is that a farmer who has about five highly-prolific sows can get about 120 piglets in a year. This, as a result, can help in making farmers more financially stable.
As an agribusiness consultant, would you say pig farming is better than other livestock farming, especially poultry?
Let me say that one needs to identify one’s passion before deciding on which area to venture into. However, when one looks at it, pig farming gives peace of mind compared to poultry. One can still sustain pigs on junk feed, although this is not advisable, unlike poultry, which needs well-formulated balanced feed which are very expensive. Pigs are also rugged animals, and they hardly fall sick. One just needs to ensure that their pens are neat and they have access to clean water. Therefore, I can say that it is easier to raise pig compared to poultry.
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But going by the acceptability of pork, especially by some people who profess certain religions, would you still say pork is popular among Nigerians?
You won’t believe that many Nigerians prefer pork; pork is referred to as the other white meat. It is because people don’t have access to pork meat, that is why many feel it is not popular, especially in the West. However, in the South East and South South, it is so popular among the people. In fact, pig buyers come from those regions to buy in the West. The Oke-Aro pig village in Lagos is the largest in West Africa, and buyers come from even outside the country to buy pigs.
Even, in the South West, once you make pork available, you will discover that many people prefer it to beef or even chicken. There are opportunities in pig farming, and it is only left for farmers to seize it. However, one of the challenges with processing pork is the epileptic nature of electricity supply for storage.
On the issue of those who don’t eat it on religious ground, I can say that demand from those who consume it is even enough to sustain one in the business.
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