Economy
A don, Prof. Akinyele Adesehinwa, has called on the Federal Government to adopt friendly policies on pig industry toward eradicating poverty and contributing to attainment of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Adesehinwa made the call on Wednesday at the 370th Inaugural Lecture of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, in collaboration with Institute of Agricultural Research a Training (IAR&T), Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the title of the inaugural lecture was: “The Fox and the Piglet: A Paradox for Untapped Resources.”
NAN also reports that the event was the first inaugural lecture on Livestock improvement and the eighth from IAR&T.
According to the professor of Animal Science and Production Systems, the pig industry is a means of job creation, sustainable source of income and poverty reduction.
He noted that Nigeria had the largest pig farm in the world, located in Kano and established in ’50s and ’60s by United African Company (UAC).
He said that UAC used to transport the meat by rail to Lagos at that time.
“Unfortunately, that pig farm eventually folded up in the late ’70s due to religious prejudice and traditional taboos.
“If this farm had been allowed to continue, Nigeria would probably have become one of the leading pig-producing countries in the whole world,” he stated.
The don called for the cooperation of relevant agencies of government at all levels toward developing a framework for importation, preservation and use of imported genetic materials to improve the existing stock.
“Appropriate policies should be put in place to favour the establishment of private pig meat processing companies/plants,” he said.
According to him, the pig industry also serves as nutrition and food security arising from pork and its consumable by-products as well as source of organic manure for crop production.
“Therefore, it could be said that Nigeria has all it takes for self-reliance in animal protein, but yet to utilise the opportunities to increase pigs contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The federal government needs to change from its unfriendly attitude toward the pig production sub-sector and by-product from what we generate from the industry, which is pig meat and its by-product.
“Pig is compared to palm tree, where every part is useful to man; skin for soft leather, hair for brush, fat (lard) for cooking and for cosmetics.
“The blood and bones are also useful for animal feed, intestine for surgical suture material and for sausage casing, heart as organ transplant for humans, manure for maggot production for fish feeding and cooking gas production,” he said.
Adesehinwa stated that the global trend in world meat production (2016-2020) indicated that pig meat (pork) was a very important source of animal protein in human diets.
He noted that investment in pork production had proven to be one of the most profitable livestock businesses because of its relatively low cost of production, compared with other major livestock farming businesses.
According to him, pork is the world’s most widely eaten meat, accounting for 36 per cent of the total meat production, surpassing poultry (29 per cent), beef and buffalo (27 per cent) and goat and sheep (five per cent).
According to him, pig has the highest percentage in terms of consumption in the entire world.
The don stated further that the world’s pork industry had been on the rise since the 1970s, adding that by 2022, global production had surpassed 110 million metric tonnes per year.
Adesehinwa said that the pork industry included all forms of pig meat, including flesh and processed meats.
“The value of trade in pig products around the world runs into billions of dollars every year.
“However, Africa enjoys less than five per cent of the “economic fat” generated in the pig-farming sector.
“Pig production is so valuable that it is described as an ‘assist for wealth’ or ‘safety net’ in times of crises,” Adesehinwa said.
He noted that China, with a fifth of the world’s population, was both the largest producer and net importer of pig products globally, using pork to feed its largest population.(NAN)
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Tags: Prof. Akinyele Adesehinwa
