Influence of nutrition and value chain governance on enterprise performance in smallholder pig production in Kenya

Abstract

Smallholder pig production in Kenya is a popular livelihood strategy but is faced with serious challenges, key among them being high cost and poor quality of feeds and weak value chain governance which result in high enterprise costs. To minimise losses, smallholders use locally available alternative feed resources (AFR) which coud be impacting negatively on performance. This study investigated feeding decisions, bio-economic benefits of using alternative feed resources (AFR), benefits of exogenous dietary enzymes and the influence of value chain governance features on competitiveness of smallholder pig enterprises. A proportionate to size purposive sampling procedure was used to select 144 enterprises in Busia, Nakuru and Kiambu Counties using the snowballing method. Interviews were conducted using pretested structured questionnaires to collect data on enterprises. Feeding experiments were set up at Egerton University Tatton Agricultural Park. Mixed analytical methods including decriptive and inferential statistics and regression analysis were applied using SAS systems, SPSS and STATA statistical software. The study concluded that the daily allowances of dry matter, crude protein and metabolisable energy associated with AFR were significantly lower (p ≤ 0.05) than the recommended daily allowance. Sows fed on AFR had delayed puberty, lower litter sizes and longer farrowing intervals compared to sows fed on commercially compounded feeds (p ≤ 0.05). Inclusion of cold pressed canola meal and rice polishing in weaned piglet diets resulted in higher (p ≤ 0.05) metabolisable energy: average daily gain (ME: ADG) and feed cost: average daily gain (FC:ADG) ratios. Inclusion of rice bran in piglet diets did not offer any bio-economic benefits. Inclusion of a dietary multi-enzyme complex resulted in higher (p ≤ 0.05) apparent digestibility of Nitrogen, energy and feed cost efficiency. Finisher diets lower in protein (14.9 -16%) and higher in dietary fibre resulted in higher (p ≤ 0.05) killing-out percent, loin eye area and villous height. Cold pressed canola diet resulted in higher (p ≤ 0.05) back fat thickness and larger (p ≤ 0.05) crypt depth. Value chain governance features including technology adoption product quality and market access had significantly (p ≤ 0.05) positive influence on enterprise competitiveness. The quality of work in pig enterprises negatively (p ≤ 0.05) influenced competitiveness of pig enterprises. The study recommend capacity building for farmers and extension staff, animal feed testing and use of biotechnology to improve feeding decisions. Further research into waste conversion technologies, the effects of dietary components such as lipids, phenolics on carcass and digestive tract are recommended.