MP Sankok: How I grow fat profits from keeping pigs

When not busy with politics or policy matters, the next best place to find Nominated MP David ole Sankok is in his pig farm in Ewaso Ng’iro, Narok County.

“This is where I hide when I have some time in my hands. But now with the coronavirus, I spend more time here tending to my pigs,” says Sankok, the chairman of National Council of Persons with Disabilities, tells Smart Harvest. 

The one year old farm, is a testimony of rewards that come with risk taking and hard work, says the MP.

Last year, he visited his friend Sammy ole Siloma, a large scale pig farmer in Narok and his eyes were opened to the possibilities that come with pig farming.

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“I had been to Siloma’s pig farm several times and but I never paid much attention to what he was doing. My friend advised me to give it a try and find out for myself.”

The first seed

For a start, Siloma supplied him with three female piglets and one male.

He also gave him vital lessons on pig management such as building the best sty, feeding, breeding and caring for the piglets.

With that, Sankok ventured in the world of pig farming and a year on he has almost 100 mature pigs, a ready market and considers himself successful.

Sankok shares profound lessons that have seen him steer the project to profitability.

“Pigs are easy animals. As long as they are in a  clean environment and have enough feeds, they rarely fall sick. Deworming is key,” the MP points out.

But he mentions that although they rarely get sick, when its cold, they can catch pneumonia, so its important to keep the pigsty clean and dry.

In addition, pigs, he points out are also low maintenance.  Now with schools closed because of the Covid-19 crisis, his children play a big role on the farm.

On feeds, he says pigs being omnivorous means they can eat almost all types of feeds like roughages, kitchen garbage and agricultural waste.

Lucky for him, his pig farm is located near Ewaso Ng’iro, one of the biggest markets in Maasai land, where fresh food wastes like vegetables are in plenty.

“My pigs roam the entire market feeding on leftovers such as cabbages in the market. Many times, traders and farmers feed them with leftovers.” 

To meet their nutritional demands, he also gives them commercial feeds.

The animals are fast breeders while is a plus to the farmer. For him, after four months, the first batch of three female pigs gave birth to 26 piglets.

“Unlike cows that take 9 months with a pregnancy and the calf taking three years before it matures, pigs take four months during pregnancy and give birth to between 10 to 20 piglets which will be mature for sale after six months. In a good season, a mature pig can fetch you Sh200,000,” he explains.

Early last month, three of his sows gave birth to a total of 34 piglets at once, two gave birth to 12 piglets each and another 10, totalling to 34. He still buys more piglets to expand his farm. Currently, his farm has around 80 pigs, but aims to have more that 5,000 pigs in the next five years. He sells mature pigs for meat and piglets for breeding to interested buyers, slaughters some for pork for eateries. For a healthy flock, when the pigs are three days old, he administers iron injection and another on day 21, to boost the immunity of the piglets.

The challenges

The journey has not been without challenges as he has lost some piglets to disease. But the remaining ones grew and after five months, sold some of them at Sh20,000.

In December, he also slaughtered pigs and sold the meat to local eateries.

For those interested in venturing in pig keeping, he advises them to go for suitable breeds for farming. He explains that there are plenty of pig breeds and it’s advisable to pick a pig breed that is highly productive to earn maximum profits.

With pigs he is assured of their safety because unlike cattle, they are not a target of rustlers.

Sankok plans to open pork eateries in other major towns and also start value addition making samosas, bacon and sausages.

He advises youths who are unemployed to go for pig farming instead of waiting for white collar jobs.

“Pig farming is a good source of employment to youth. All they need is information on managing the pigs. I have been doing this for a year and I can already see good returns. Pig farming is a worthwhile venture,” he says.,” he says.

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