Smalholder Pig Value Chain Development Project (SPVCD) in Uganda
Participatory rapid assessment of animal health and management
practices in the Uganda smallholder pig value chain
Michel Dione
“Workshop: In-depth smallholder pig value chain assessment and preliminary
identification of best-bet interventions, Kampala, 9-11 April 2013”

Outline
• Introduction
• Material and Methods
• Housing typology
• Husbandry practices
• Herd entry/exit
• Reasons for herd entry
• Reasons for herd exit
• Priority diseases
• Seasonality of diseases and vectors
• Main constraints to animal health

Introduction
• Animal diseases are known to be one of the major limiting factors
to pig production in Uganda
• Persistence and spread of disease in the farm are strongly
associated with their management practices
• Overall objective: identify constraints and opportunities for
intervention in the pig value chain
• Secondary objectives :
– know what priority diseases exist and their impact on pig production;
– assess farmers perceptions of health constraints in relation to
production parameters;
– facilitate own problem analysis on health constraints (diseases,
symptoms or syndromes);
– elicit farmer's knowledge on disease causation (host, environment,
pathogen) and access to service;

Material and methods
Parameter Objective Tool Data capture
Housing typology Get a relative sense of the type of
confinement and housing that exist
Listing and proportional piling Table with frequency of
housing used
Husbandry practices Know different husbandry practices
done by farmers
Listing and proportional piling Table with list of practices
Community herd
entry/exit
Know where do the pigs come from
and, what happen to the pigs in the
community over a year
Listing and proportional piling Diagram with proportions
Disease priority and
impact in production
Know the most important diseases that
affect pigs in the area
Simple ranking Table with list of top 5
diseases and their
characteristics
Herd morbidity and
mortality
Understand the mortality and
morbidity rates in the herd
Proportional piling Diagram with proportions
Seasonal calendar for
diseases occurrence
Know the activities linked to the pig
health throughout the year
Seasonal calendar and scoring Map of the seasonal
calendar against diseases
and risk factors
Main constraints to animal
health
Know the different constraints that
affect the health of pigs
Matrix/pair-wise comparison Pair-wise matrix
Disease control and
surveillance
Know what are the disease control and
surveillance measures in the area
Face to face interview with
DVOs and keys informants
Report
Perceptions of farmers for
tackling their animal
health problems
Know the ideas about what is being
done and what more could be done to
improve the pig’s health
Problem opportunity matrix Table with list of constraints
and proposed actions
• Focused Group Discussion (FGD) with farmers and key informants ;
quantitative information were obtained through group consensus
• Triangulation: with secondary/key informant/service provider data
during the exercise; further investigation (laboratory testing)

Free range/scavenging
Definition animal are free during the day and stabilized the night (housed or tethered);
they get food outside; no supplementation; adults and piglets are mainly
concerned; no exotic breeds
Reason no money to construct house or buy feeds; no time to look after pigs
Seasonality adults (usually dry season, but some farmers release their pigs at night during
crop season); piglets (difficult to tether, all seasons)
Advantages cheap for feeding and servicing; protect from predators; so supplementation
Inconvenient Accidents; exposition to disease; conflict with neighbors; crop destruction;
theft
Score Rural (17%), peri-urban (18%) and urban (1%)
Adult pig scavenging in rural setting in Wakiso Piglets scavenging in rural setting in Mukono

Permanent confinement
Definition Pig are confined in house; feeds are brought; house with raised floor or
without raised floor
Seasonality all seasons
Advantages Avoid rope injuries; pigs protected against predators and thieves;
restricted movement, disease threat attenuated; conflict with neighbor
reduced; manure can be easily collected and hygiene is improved; quality
of feeds controlled
Inconvenient Expensive; time involving
Score Rural (21%), peri-urban (43%) and urban (86%)
Hosed not raised
with cemented
floor, roof made
with ion sheet
and wall with
timber in
Mukono
House not raised,
roof maid of ion
sheet and wall of
bricks in Mukono
House not
raised, floor
not cemented,
wall and roof
made of stem
in Masaka
House raised,
wall made of
stem and roof
of grass in
Batuga

Tethering
Definition Pigs are tethered under a tree shade in the compound (feeds brought) or in the
bush and moved to a tree to another to keep the shade and allow change of feeds
(grass and crops residues); ropes are changed from one leg to another to reduce
injuries.
Reason No funds to construct houses; farmers keeps small number of pigs (2 to 3);
Seasonality local breed and adults pigs; all seasons and dry season only for those practicing
scavenging
Advantages Not exposed to disease; manure produce on site; no crop damage; conflict with
neigh our reduced
Inconvenient Leg injuries; exposition to predators;
Score Rural (66%), peri-urban (40%) and urban (13%)
Adult pig tethered
under a tree shade
and fed with crop
residues

Housing typology
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
RR RU UU
Tethering
Housed
Free-range/Scavenging
Confinement type Rural (%) Peri-urban (%) Urban (%)
Tethering 66 40 13
Housed Housed raised floor 5 6 25
Housed not raised floor 16 37 61
Free-range/Scavenging 17 18 1

Husbandry practices
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
deworming castration servicing vitamin
injection
parasites
spray
tagging ion
injection
extra teat
removal
RR
RU
UU
Pig husbandry practices When What is the source of the service Cost of the service (UGX)
Castration From 2 weeks of age village vet; village castror or farm owner up to 3000
Serving when pig seen on hit
village boar; neighbor boar; release free
rooming to meet any boar
10000 to 50000
Boar local breed < improved breed;
neighbor<village boar
Deworming once a while village vet; farmer
2500 to 4500 (injection)
500 to 2000 (tablet/piglets)
2000 to 3000 (tablet/adult)
Up to 7000 (drenching)
Parasites spraying Village vet 1000 to 5000 per treatment
Ion supplementation
village vet; or allow pigs to room and
ingest red soil
1000 to 3500
vitamin
usually at 2 months of
pregnancy
village vet or farmer 1000 to 5000
Extra teat removal - high qualified vets -
Tagging/Notching - village vet of farmer -

Herd entry/exit
0
20
40
60
80
100
Kkingo
Kyanamukaka
Kitayunjwa
Namwendwa
Bugulumbya
Ntenjeru
Kabonera
Kyampisi
Kimanya-Kyabakuza
Katwe-Butego
Nyendo-Ssenyange
MukonoTC
Goma
Rural-rural Rural-urban Urban-urban
Proportionofhouseholds(%)
remaining
moved out

Reason for herd entry
0
20
40
60
80
100 Kkingo
Kyanamukaka
Kitayunjwa
Namwendwa
Bugulumbya
Ntenjeru
Kabonera
Kyampisi
Kimanya-Kyabakuza
Katwe-Butego
Nyendo-Ssenyange
MukonoTC
Goma
Proportionofhouseholds(%)
renting in
gift
boar services
birth
purchase

Reasons for herd exit
0
20
40
60
80
100
Kkingo
Kyanamukaka
Kitayunjwa
Namwendwa
Bugulumbya
Ntenjeru
Kabonera
Kyampisi
Kimanya-Kyabakuza
Katwe-Butego
Nyendo-Ssenyange
MukonoTC
Goma
Proportionofhouseholds(%)
death
predators
slaughtered
theft
gift
pay boar service
get lost
renting pout
sold

Causes of death
0
20
40
60
80
100 Kkingo
Kyanamukaka
Kitayunjwa
Namwendwa
Bugulumbya
Ntenjeru
Kabonera
Kyampisi
Kimanya-Kyabakuza
Katwe-Butego
Nyendo-Ssenyange
MukonoTC
Goma
Proportionofhouseholds(%)
heat stress
accident
predation
malice
malnutrition
disease

Priority diseases
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
RR
RU
UU
Disease Common agents Morbidity (%) Mortality (%) Case fatality (%)
ASF (Omusujja/Omusudha) Virus of Asfarviridae family 29 29 100
Worms (Enjoka/Ebiwuka) Schistosoma, strongyloides, coccidia,
nematodes, cestodes, fasciola, etc..
37 14 39
Sarcoptic mange (Lukuku/Olukuku) Sarcoptes scabei 16 7 43
Diarrhea (Ekidukano/kwiidukana) rotavirus 6 5 86
Lice (Ensekere/Nsekere) Haematopinus suis 5 1 24
Malnutrition (Endya embi) - 4 3 66
FMD (Kalusu) Virus of Picornaviridae family 1 0.0 6
Midge biting (Kawawa) Stomoxys calcitrans (stable fly); Simulium
spp.; Culicoides spp.
1 0.2 18
*Others - 1 0.5 73
*Swine erysipelas, anemia, ticks, jiggers, heat stress, undiagnosed diseases usually related to sudden death

Rainfall and seasonality of diseases and vectors
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Rainfall
ASF
Worms
Diarrhea
Malnutrition
FMD
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Rainfall
Mite
Lice
Jigger
Midge
Ticks

Disease impact on production
• ASF: epidemic, high mortality
• Parasites: endemic, stunted growth, loss of weight
• Diarrhea: loos of weight and dead on piglet
• FMD and Malnutrition: reduced market value
• Diamond disease: emaciation,unprofitable to feed
out.
• Amenia: death

Disease control by farmers
Disease name Treatment and prevention Effectiveness of treatment
African swine fever Antibiotics, human urine, local herbs
(mululuza, kigagi, esikula, ekifufumu, omululuza), combinati
on of aloe vera and salt
Little effective
Worms Deworming with either tablet, injection or drenching Very effective
Ecto-
parasites
Lice Ivermectin, used engine oil, insecticide (“ambush poison”)
, tobacco extract
Very effective
Mange mite spraying with acaricide, apply used engine oil, tobacco
extract, scrabbling with soap, ground herbal leaves
(muluku)
Very effective
Biting midges insecticide (“ambush poison”), used engine oil very effective
Tick Spraying Very effective
Jiggers Wallowing, spraying Very effective
Diarrhea Injection by vet Very effective
Malnutrition None Some farmers can stock bran,
other can get a loan from BRAC
Swine erysipelas
(Diamond disease)
Inject on ear Very effective
FMD No treatment Treated by vet to enable them
move to slaughter
Anemia No treatment N/A

Main constraints to animal health (1)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
RR
RU
UU

Main constraints to animal health (2)
• What is already being done?
 Own treatment with commercial drugs or traditional drugs
 Use local material to construct houses
 Stock few pigs and make good use of the limited space
 Inform authorities about quality of drugs
 Deal with qualified and recognized health workers
 Sell other assets (crops, other animal) to buy drugs and
construct houses
 Use local available feeds (forage, peelings) or allow them to
scavenge
 Stock maize bran for use in time of scarcity
 Get loan and invest in the farm
 Visit more advanced farmers and seek for advice

Main constraints to animal health (3)
• What more can be done?
 Get qualified vets and increase their accessibility
 Get breeds that are more resistant to diseases
 Access to affordable drugs
 Access to good quality feeds
 Training in management practices and records
keeping
 Training on fed formulation and promote local feeds
 Access to funds
 Exchange farmer’s experience and knowledge

Main constraints to animal health (4)
• Who has to do it?
 Farmer
 Government authorities
 Development institutions
 Research institutions
• How it can be done?
• Mobilize farmers in groups and provide training on
management and feeding strategies
• Have access to good quality drugs
• Vet services and feeds shops get closer to farmers
• Access to loan from banks
• Get technical staff in the villages
• Increase farmer’s motivation

THANK YOU