About a year ago, the needy village folk in Lau ban-Ban, Kota Binjai, North Sumatra, sought assistance from Goducate on how they could successfully raise pigs both for consumption and income. After several consultations, it was decided that the relevant strategy was the raising of superior breeds through a natural farming system (NFS). Instead of a concrete floor, a dug-out of one meter depth is backfilled with rice husk for natural bedding. After four months, the substrate is used as organic fertilizer.
The NFS approach, as validated by the village folk themselves, also eliminates the irritating odor from swine production; is 90% less intensive than the prevailing practices; optimizes water usage; and can be easily handled by women and children.
Five families recently became recipients of the swine-dispersal program. Five more households will receive two female piglets each in the next few days since some of the sows which were initially group-raised had already farrowed. Each recipient is expected to breed the pigs successfully and return four female piglets to the local association later on so that the piglets could be dispersed to two other identified families.
By helping each other through this scheme, all the 80 households in the village will hopefully have their respective swine-raising projects within the next two years thereby meeting their protein needs and earning additional income from sales.
