Wangwa Farms improve the national pig gene baseline

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“Nowadays everybody wants to buy pigs and every small-scale farmer wants two or three pigs. We help them to make sure they buy the right gilts. This is good for the country and our job as a gene supplier is to improve the gene baseline of Zambia.” – Peter Luyt.
The largest pig genetics company in the world is PIC. If you want to become one of their agents, you have to undergo a very strict scrutiny process, since pig gene proliferation is one of the most bio-security sensitive operations in agriculture.
Peter Luyt of Wangwa farms north of Chisamba qualified for the PIC compliance process just over a year ago. The initial response in the market was astonishing and Peter is very impressed with the growth in the market. Currently he offers semen as well as gilts. “I chose to represent PIC since I am very excited about their genetics. They offer the right size pig for us – the farmer has a chance to produce 130 kg pigs instead of the usual 90 kg pigs,” he says.
Wangwa is the agent for central Sub-Sahara Africa, while Alzu in Middelburg, South Africa, supplies the southern part of the sub-continent. Wangwa distributes their genetics in Zambia,Tanzania, the DRC, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Rwanda. PIC offers an ongoing service to their agents to make sure they are on the ball the whole time. “Everything we do is still monitored by PIC from South Africa, and with their software they are able to look inside our project activities, but we adapted very well and are probably rated amongst the top five genetic companies in South Africa,” Peter says.
The pork market expanded significantly over the last few years. “It increased by 30% and pork became cheaper than beef. Our genetics are affordable though, given the potential it offers, and big and small-scale farmers can thrive on our semen and gilts,” he says. “As the market expands we shall still be able to supply our clients.”
Peter imported 10 boars from Czech Republic and the dame line gilts from Germany. His next boars will come from Canada in the very near future. Currently he has enough capacity for 5 500 sows, but his facilities allow him to expand. Next year he wants to put up a 1 000 sow unit which will be mirrored with another 1 000 sow unit in two years.
Tilapias offer money for jam
Wangwa uses a very creative and profitable system to get rid of the pig slurry. Next to every 500 sow unit, Peter dug a Tilapia dam. The right amount of slurry is pumped into the dams which allows algae to grow. Fingerlings are added to feed on the algae and are sold every twelve months when they reach 500 to 600 g. The rest of the slurry is used as fertiliser on the pastures and crops which are included in the pig rations.
You can bring home the bacon from the pig genetics revolution. Contact Peter Luyt at +26-096-685-1587 or Matilda Chindale at Wangwa’s piggery office at +26-096-196-0816.

Wangwa offers a very effective compact insemination kit for the small-scale farmer. Peter Luyt shows the applicator, cooler box
and semen tube he offers together with a quick course in pig artificial insemination.

Strict bio-security measures on Wangwa farms are vital to prevent the numerous diseases which might reduce efficiency and profits. There are three zones to cross before you reach the pigs. Matilda Chindale, gene transfer technician, and Peter Luyt, owner, are seen here in Zone A
in front of Wangwa’s gene transfer facility.