Partnerships to increase pig production in Uganda

Livestock is the world’s fastest-growing, highest-value agricultural subsector, accounting for about 40% of agricultural gross domestic product globally. Driven by rising incomes, demand for animal-source foods in Africa and Asia is expected to increase up to 200% by 2030. Efficient crop and livestock production and natural resource use will drive employment, environmental, nutrition and income gains in a subsector likely to be dominated by smallholders.

In 2012, the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish began working in nine countries to increase access to animal-source foods by the poor by strengthening targeted value chains in which the poor benefit significantly. The initiative—led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)—took a solution-driven research-for-development approach. In Uganda, scientists selected the pig value chain, a major livestock source for more than 1.1 million households, because of its relatively high return-on-investment potential. Pigs grow quickly, feed on leftover food and crop residues, can be sold to meet household needs and provide investment capital to grow crops. Investment in research offers major opportunities to increase productivity and build partnerships to enhance knowledge and technology transfer. . . .