Printer friendly

Piggery provides a taste for profit

By Susan Jones
ST.ALBERT (AB) GAZETTE

We are using the profits from the pigs we sold to build an additional nursery…
— CHIEFTOGBE FOLDIZE IV

With just a little help from their Canadian friends, the village of Kpando Bame appears to be one of the most prosperous and industrious in Ghana.

The dirt road to the village is rough and construction delays the arrival of the Canadian contingent by nearly two hours. Still, the village is ready and waiting and everyone is dressed in their very best clothes. A shelter has been erected to shade the visitors from the hot African sun. Chief Togbe Folidze IV, who was resplendent in a green robe, greeted everyone. “Akwaabe! Akwaabe!,” he said. “Welcome! Welcome!”

Welcome indeed! Kpando Bame seemed to be an oasis in the sand and dust blown to the area from the Sahara Desert. It had not rained for several months, but Folidze offered soda pop and straws to quench the thirst. Then together with his villagers he showed off the piggery purchased and built just nine months ago with the aid of $10,000 Canadian dollars combined with their own village money.

The piggery itself, a corral-like structure built of wood and concrete, housed 10 spotless and seemingly odourless sows. 

“All of us, alternately clean and feed and grow the cassava [a tapioca-like root] and maize for the pigs. The manure is put on the corn [fields] so we do not need fertilizer,” Folidze said.

With the help and management expertise of Canada Fund director Lawrencia Adams-Simpson, the villagers at Kpando Bame formed a co-operative. Each member who joined the co-op purchased shares for approximately $10 each. Monthly dues cost about $1.50 each. 

Initially, 15 piglets were purchased and of those, two died but three were sold at almost six times their original value. The co-op’s monthly expenditures include veterinarian bills for medicine for the pigs and for a fish meal supplement, but already the members can see that soon they will realize a profit.

“We are using the profits from the pigs we sold to build an additional nursery for the new piglets,” said Folidze.

So far, none of the pigs have been slaughtered or cooked locally, but visions of more than pork chops are dancing in these villagers’ heads. If all goes well, and if the operation stays healthy, Kpando Bame will soon sell pigs to several surrounding villages.

“Maybe we will sell pigs to all of Accra,” the chief said.

“Maybe soon you will supply all of Canada,” Lawrencia Adams-Simpson joked.

The co-op owners' eyes collectively widened at the thought of so many pigs.

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Folidze asked.

- 30 -

(467 words)

Those using these stories for their own publications MUST include the following:

• Byline (name of author)
• Tagline (name of newspaper)
• CIDA/CCNA tag (included at the top of every story in this database).