Odourless Pig Farming

The common perception of pig farming is that it is smelly, dirty and of generates minimal income. The challenge pig farmers face is getting a fair price from the sale of the pigs.

In 2018, Care Channels (CCI) embarked on a livelihood programme to debunk perceptions, get people to think out of the box and provide a source of income for the villagers of Udon Thani.

The odourless pig farming and dispersal programme began with CCI staff understanding the local pig farming situation. At the beginning, the people in Udon Thani were sceptical. However, two communities were won over when they heard that the pig farming would be free of smell and flies. Furthermore, the pigs would be fast-growing. Each pig would take only four months to reach a weight of 90-100kg instead of the usual five to seven months.

In August 2018, each community was given five pigs to raise. The farmers were taught to build proper drainage and spray effective microorganism solution to remove the smell from the pig pen. They learnt to feed the pigs three times a day, instead of feeding the pigs continuously. Farmers also learnt about feeding pigs with kangkong (water spinach) and banana stems and supplementing this with dry feed. This diet reduces the amount of food needed and saves on expensive and less healthy commercial feeds.

When building pig pens, CCI staff taught the farmers to separate waste water from pig waste. This set-up facilitates the collection of pig manure for drying. The dried manure is used as fertiliser for the farmer’s own vegetable gardens and paddy fields. This cuts cost and farmers are able to sell the manure as organic fertilisers. Plants and vegetable gardens fertilised with pig manure are greener and healthier.

One of the farmers took the initiative of hanging cut lemongrass around the pig pen to repel mosquitoes and as aromatherapy for themselves and the pigs during the rainy season. When the lemongrass dry up, they are burnt to keep away the mosquitoes.

To fetch a better price for the fattened pigs, the farmers decided that wherever possible they would slaughter the pigs themselves and sell them in the village, thus bypassing the middlemen. This benefits both the farmers and buyers.

Through the pig dispersal programme, the farmers are better able to support themselves financially and are challenged to think creatively in dealing with and solving problems.

In order to ensure sustainability of the programme, CCI has set up a small pig farm to breed pigs for dispersal. Currently, the farm has 11 sows and two boars. Plans are in place to introduce artificial insemination to meet the growing demand for pigs.