Better lives through livestock
Understanding mortality and morbidity of pigs in Ugandan
smallholder production systems
Rebecca Doyle¹, Peter Oba², Zachary Nsadha³ & Michel Dione4
¹Animal Welfare Scientist, University of Melbourne and International Livestock Research Institute
²Research Fellow, International Livestock Research Institute, Kampala, Uganda
³Lecturer, College of Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
4Scientist Animal Health, International Livestock Research Institute, Dakar, Senegal

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Background to Uganda’s MorePork II project
Improving pig productivity and incomes through an environmentally
sustainable and gender inclusive integrated intervention package
 Project goals is to improve productivity, efficiency & develop market
systems of the pig value chain in Uganda
 Through delivering integrated technology packages, through 4
project components:
• Feeds & forages
• Animal health
• Breeding / artificial insemination
• Livelihoods & market systems development

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Animal health project component
 Focus is to design animal health interventions to minimize disease,
increase performance of herds in the pig value chain
 Minimize or reduce antimicrobial use through improving hygiene, pig
welfare, biosecurity and health practices
o Pig welfare assessment survey conducted in project sites in Uganda
o Purpose was to establish current status of pig welfare and how/if farmers
understand the concept of pig welfare and its relationship with pig productivity
o Survey was conducted in April-May 2021 in 4 project districts

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Preliminary findings
 Number of farms sampled = 270
 Average farm size = 6 pigs (3-90 pigs)
 Number of sows per farm = 3 (range 1-20)
On farm mortality:
• 33% smallholder Ugandan pig farmers experience
>20% mortality in piglets
• 10% of farms experienced >20% weaner mortality
• 11% of farms had >20% mortality in growers

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Findings……….
• 3.5% of farms experienced sow mortality
• Overall, approx. 57.5% of farms experienced
mortality

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Findings cont..
On farm morbidity:
 Percent of farms with piglet morbidity = 48%
 Percent of farms with >20% weaner morbidity =
23%
 Percent of farms with grower morbidity = 5.4%
 Overall, approx. 76.4% of farms experienced
morbidity

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Impacts of mortality & morbidity on food production, food losses and
animal welfare
 Food losses – live animal & animal tissue condemnations; reduced
volume of animal products produced
 Increased costs of production, reduced revenue
 Adverse effects on pig welfare, health
 Entry of drug residues in the human food chain, AMR
 Negative effects on food security and food safety

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Our approach towards improving pig welfare
Demonstrate to farmers economic benefits that
can be derived from improving pig welfare, in
terms of:
 Improved weight gains
 Reduced antimicrobial use
 Increased profit margins and,
 Improved human health

Acknowledgements
Conference organizers,
Sponsors/donors to CRP program,
National partners, Uganda MorePork II project