CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

One of the major challenges facing Nigeria is satisfaction of the ever-increasing

demand for protein. Most Nigerian diets are deficient in animal protein. FAO (2010)

recommends that the minimum intake of protein by an average person should be 65g per

day; of this, 36g (that is, 40%) should come from animal sources. However, Nigeria is

presently unable to meet this requirement. At present, the animal protein consumption in

Nigeria is 15g per person per day which is a far cry from the FAO recommendation.

Consequently, widespread hunger, poor and stunted growth as well as increase in spread

of diseases are evident in the country (Tijjani, Tijani, Tijjani and Sadiq, 2012).

This shortage of animal protein consumption is partly due to the high cost of

conventional sources of meat like cattle, swine, goat, sheep and poultry (Tewe, 1999). It

is therefore necessary to search for cheaper alternative source of meat to meet the ever

increasing demand for animal protein. This quest can only be met by “short-cycled”

animals such as rabbits, poultry and swine. Swine have been described as one of the

most prolific and fast growing livestock that can convert food waste to valuable products.

They excel above other read met animals such as cattle, sheep and goat in converting feed

to flesh.

Ekarius (2008) defines swine as a farm animal with hoofed feet, short prickly hair

and along snout used for digging and is the oldest domesticated animal. It is omnivores

and is a highly social and intelligent animal. It has the potential to be highly prolific,

because it is capable of producing many litters after a relatively short gestation period.

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The productivity in terms of yield of meat per tone of live weight of breeding females per

year is in the region of six times that of cattle.     Domesticated swine is raised

commercially for meat (generally called pork, ham, gammon or bacon) as well as for

leather. A sow stays pregnant for an average of 114 days (three months, three weeks and

three days). A growing swine of improved breeds that is managed and well fed from

weaning to slaughter can reach a weight of 90kg in 150 days with good life weight

growth pattern (Ekarius 2008). The profitability of swine production is vital to the

national economy in the case of generating employment opportunity, additional income

for households and improving the nutritional level of the people. MOF (2012) report

show that about 2.58 percent of GDP in Nigeria came from animal farming during

2010/11 financial year. In addition, swine is an excellent source of protein and nutrients

which are essential for health and growth of the human body.

In addition, the profitability of swine production include: swine have high

fecundity, high feed conversion efficiency early maturity, short generation interval

(gestation period 114 days) and relatively small space requirement, they are multipurpose

animals providing about 40% of meat in the world market, cooking fats and bristles

(Babatunde and Fetuga, 2000). Also, swine have higher survival rate especially under the

scarcity of inputs. Swine is equally important for agro-based industries like feed mills for

provision of bone and blood meal respectively, which are a good source of calcium in

animal nutrition. In addition, swine manure is an excellent fertilizer for enriching poor

soils for crop production. Its skin is also useful for light leather production. It is

produced under a variety of production systems ranging from simple backyard piggery,

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swine living on garbage belt`s to family operated farms or large scale integrated swine

industries with sophisticated bio-safety measures (Babatunde and Fetuga, 2000).

Swine production have been recommended as a good alternative source of cheap,