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Opinions of Monday, 29 June 2015

Columnist: Smith-Quayson, Ewuranna

Want to start a pig or goat farm?

In this era of tightening world food supplies, the ability to grow food is fast becoming a new form of geopolitical leverage. Food is the new oil. (Lester R. Brown, Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity)
There’s an uproar in the demand for food around the world caused by an ever increasing population and Ghana is no exemption. With Ghana’s increasing population growth rate, food indeed is the new oil. Consumption of pork is growing in Africa. These prolific beauties (pigs) are versatile, yield high returns, have enough taste buds to adapt to a wide variety of foods, quickly convert feed into meat and yield more meat than cattle.
The popularity of goats in every festive season in Ghana and even in the non-festive seasons inspires the exponential increase in the demand for goats. Goats are versatile: aside meat they can be nurtured for their milk, butter, cheese and fur.
How can we tap into this “new oil industry”? Do you want to explore the different agribusiness options available to you? Are you thinking about going into the pig or goat rearing as a business? You need help with finding market for your goats and pigs? Or you just want to connect further with your food and its source? This series of AgriPro’s monthly workshops on Goats and Pigs is what you need.
“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I’ll remember, involve me and I’ll understand”
Confucius
This one day workshop includes informative tuition, consulting and hands on experience on the farm. The first part of the workshop will be delivered indoors with facilitators sharing their knowledge followed by a one-on-one consultation period and lastly a chance to relate to the information given at the workshop by getting your hands dirty, working on the farms
The workshop will cover:
• A general introduction to agribusiness
• The basics of pig and goat rearing
• Breed and growing operations
• Nutrition and diet analysis
• Land management
• Housing equipment
• Marketing
• Financing and Financial Management
• Medication
What happens if you don’t have enough resources to start this profitable goat/pig farm? At the workshop, there would be a platform for interested persons to pool resources together who, in addition, will receive technical support from experts who know the nooks and crannies of livestock rearing.
For more information: visit www.agriprohub.com/workshops or call 0263118965/0277667561