socio-economic constraints on pig farming in Bamendjo

[Jacky Foo]

Jackson and Henry wrote in their paper:
>The main factor here was that some villages or areas are dominated
>by Muslim people who do not consume pork.

I like the approach used on
>....farmer groups located in areas with little demand for pork meat,
>such as villages with large Muslim populations, are encouraged
>to focus on the breeding of pigs. Because of a relatively low pig
> population in such areas, and consequently low incidence of
>diseases, these farmers are best able to produce healthy young
>animals that can be sold to other farmers who, in turn, concentrate
>on fattening the pigs.

Q: has there being any protest by muslims on the "presence" of pigs in
their area ?

As you may know, "presence" is considered as contamination of their
resources that Muslims use and therefore "presence" of pigs may cause
conflicts.

In Malaysia, live pigs are transported by train to Singapore. The
muslim community protested because the railway track system becomes
"contaminated" by pig manure that may drop off the train carriages and
therefore is viewed as a "contamination".

regards
jacky

[jackkson ntapi]

.

That is not quite a problem in Cameroon especially in Muslim communities situated in the south of the country. This may certainly be related to the high rate of tolerance between Muslims and Christians and the absence of extremist doctrines in the country. An additional tool that could reduce the chances of such problems or any other problem that may occur as a result of a region’s specific constraints is the participatory approach.  If farmers lead the decision on what livestock they should produce in their area, problems that occur as a result of lack of contextual information are prevented.

Heifer-Cameroon will soon move to the North of the country where the Muslim population is even higher, even there people are still keeping pigs. So the approach is simple, let the farmers choose what they want to produce, Heifer-Cameroon will raise her concerns in the feasibility study and validate together with farmers what is appropriate for their region. This does not eliminate the chances of such a problem in the future; our role in Heifer-Cameroon is to recognize such challenges and empower people in conflict management so as to promote the peace that has reigned for so long.

 

Jacky Foo <jack...@gmail.com> wrote:

---

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[Jacky Foo]

Source: http://www.iobbnet.org/drupal/node/view/962/3179#comment-3179
+++++
socio-economic constraints on pig farming in Bamendjo
Submitted by Jacky Foo on Thu, 03/05/2007 - 10:30.
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Jacky Foo wrote (03 May 2007)

>In Malaysia, live pigs are transported by train to
> Singapore. The muslim community protested because the
> railway track system becomes "contaminated" by pig
>manure that may drop off the train carriages and
>therefore is viewed as a contamination".

Jackson wrote:
>.....somebody asked a question about conflicts that may
> occur as a result of muslims not tolerating pigs,
>if i knew where he is resident i may like to place some
> emphasis on Muslim christian relationships in cameroon.

So far, no one from Cameroon has raised the issue on Muslim Christian
relationships and concerning pigs in their neighbourhood. I provided
information from Malaysia.

When I was in Kampala where there is a large number of muslims in the
city, the issue was just avoided by not keeping pigs (esp. in the
crowded areas). Also I think the primary reason is because feed for
pigs is expensive and always a problem. People there were very
sensible...... just switch to keeping goats and cattle and avoid the
feed problem.

I have tasted the roasted pork that Cameroonians make....it is really
delicious and goes very well with beer.

-----
Jacky Foo
http://www.iobbnet.org

[Jacky Foo]

On 03/05/07, jackkson ntapi <jackso...@yahoo.com> wrote: 

That is not quite a problem in Cameroon especially in Muslim communities situated in the south of the country. This may certainly be related to the high rate of tolerance between Muslims and Christians and the absence of extremist doctrines in the country.

I believe keeping pigs in an enclosure or pig house is important and also maintaining small size pig farms (which enable the use of manure) will help esp. in such mixed communities. 

When we go beyond these boundaries, pigs will roam and destroy neighbours crops and excess manure that is not used will always smell. Nobody likes that.  

In the Philippines and in urban as well as residential areas, there was a time (70's) when families do keep a pig at home. It helps to pay school fees or a pig planned for the festivities (like a special Christmas and weddings).  Kitchen leftovers was used as the feed and there are also people who would collect restaurant leftovers to sell to such families. Manure however is often flushed into the stormwater drains. It does not smell that bad from just one pig and if the manure is still fresh.

regards
jacky

[jackkson ntapi]

That is interesting, but in Heifer-Cameroon we want to set a base in which farmers will understand and master the issues be it technical, economic or environmental that comes with expansion so that they will not look down on any of these parameters when growing. Talking about environmental issues related to growth, it is treated seriously in our projects; farmers must not compromise the importance of promoting a healthy environment in their communities. Technically they have opted for sedentary systems of production (with Heifer’s technical assistance) not just for the environmental concerns but also for efficiency in production. One of the reactions by farmers to demonstrate their understanding of the importance of the environment in growth is the decision of some assisted farmers to transfer their pig farms away from residential areas to more isolated areas. In Heifer-Cameroon we prepare farmers to manage growth because there is no development when the possibility of growth is absent.

 

 

 I personally believe the era of development projects with objectives of supporting farmers to keep one animal, struggle to provide food, healthcare or school fees for their children has passed. This may be one of the reasons that could be used to explain rural-urban migration of youths in Africa which has gone beyond national and international boundaries and is now causing serious humanitarian problems in Europe and else where. Agriculture which is the main source of employment in rural areas in Africa has been painted as the path of a poor and miserable man. Yes people may be very poor in Cameroon/Africa or Asia, but they are caught up by changing times and are exposed to information showing other developments, they may not accept to invest much of their time (especially the youths) on a project that cannot provide a real solution to their problems.  I am calling on all of us participating in this seminar to start treating the poor and the weakest as normal human beings with dreams and aspirations for themselves and for their children. They may be subsistence farmers with one animal, small land etc, they may be accepting to be part of policies, projects and programs that encourage them to remain small and poor but i strongly think their off springs will not. They will prefer to die in a desert on their way to the so called greener pastures, become criminals in the city etc etc than to live the miserable life of their parents. 

 

Jacky Foo <jack...@gmail.com> wrote: