Kampala

1/14/13

After arriving late on Saturday night, I had the day to relax and adjust on Sunday, but today we had our first visit. We drove to the outskirts of Kampala to Kajjansi and then up a long, winding and VERY bumpy road until we got to the Muru Pig Cooperative. The day was sunny, with a small breeze and the view from the farm is incredible. There was not a lot to do there, as this cooperative has already been well established and is running on its own, but we had the chance to see the changes since last year and to learn about the challenges the group is facing.

Last spring when I visited, there were 43 piglets, 13 of which were kept for breeding and 30 of which were sold to pay for feed for the remaining pigs. Right now, there are 7 pregnant pigs (the gestation period for a pig is 4 months) and 22 piglets. The greatest challenge right now is obtaining corn feed, because the schools have been closed for 6 weeks, as Ugandan schools take there big two month break around Christmas, as opposed to in the summer, as in the west. When school is not in session, the factories that make corn flour slow down their production, as the school children make up a large portion of the consumers of the flour at their schools. During this period, it is difficult to find the corn flour at the market, even if one has the money to buy it. The cooperative also grows some corn, but it is not enough to feed the pigs, because firstly, monkeys take some of the corn from the fields and because it is also needed for food by the people growing it. There are only two weeks left of the school break, however, so the feed situation will improve soon. This group has done a great job of making the cooperative self sustaining.

Tomorrow we head to Juba, South Sudan.