Huye: How residents are benefitting from a newly established pig abattoir

The pig slaughter house built in Ruhashya Sector, Huye District, Southern Province is among ten set by the Partnership for Resilient and Inclusive Small Livestock Markets (PRISM) Project, aimed to promoting small livestock rearing all over the country.

The Project aims to reduce poverty and malnutrition within 75 Sectors of 15 Districts, by empowering poor rural men, women and youth to participate in the transformation of the Rwanda livestock sub-sector.

According to Dr Fabrice Ndayisenga, Head of the Department of Animal Resources Innovation and Technology Transfer at RAB, the PRISM is one of the projects that help farmers to have access to proper slaughter facilities to improve the quality of the meat and increase efficiency in the supply chain.

Ruhashya and Save Sectors are popular to pig rearing, however, there was no way to get the meat to the market in good quality. It was necessary to have a slaughter house at this level, the coordinator of the PRISM project in Huye District, Bugingo Jean de Dieu, said.

The facility which was built in 2022, has the capacity to receive 49 pigs daily. It has the basic tools that ensure the quality of meat is met.

Bugingo said, “People who were using the traditional way, come here at this abattoir. This makes meat to be allowed to reach the market in good quality. It is also contributing to prevent some people to evade taxpaying. ”

In order to slaughter a pig, the owner is charged Rwf3,000.

Hakizimana Aphrodis, a resident of Shyanda Cell, Save Sector, Huye District, confirmed that the pig slautherhouse they received is important for them.

He said, “This abattoir has helped us to have a clean place to work from, which makes our customers trust us because we have good meat and therefore we sell more meat.”

 “It has even created jobs as seven full-time workers including butchers and veterinarians are employed here”, Joseph Uzaribara added.

Habyarimana Jean, of Gatoki Cell, Save Sector, said he wishes every pig that is going to be slaughtered should be put on a number so that the owner can be sure that he is carrying the same amount of meat as the animal he brought.

The government aims to increase meat consumption from small livestock farming to 80 per cent, with cows accounting for 20 per cent.

This goal is part of a seven-year strategy to improve food security and meet the FAO’s target of 45 kilogrammes of meat per year. Currently, a Rwandan consumes only eight kilogrammes of meat per year according to RAB.

“We believe small livestock farming will significantly contribute to meat per capita consumption. Our seven-year target was 150,000 metric tonnes, and currently, we stand at 130,000 metric tonnes. 80 per cent of meat consumption in the country will come from small livestock farming, while cows will only account for 20 percent of the meat per capita consumption”, Dr Fabrice Ndayisenga said.

PRISM project target is 26,355 households that include 23,400 poor rural households; 1530 youth and 1425 farmers under productive alliances.

At least 67,500 chickens; 1,201 sheep; 3,077 pigs and 5,546 goats were distributed to small holder farmers.  5,324 kitchen gardens were established with amaranthus, carrot, beetroots and 12,907 farmers were trained on human nutrition.125 Micro Finances and SACCOs were trained to understand the business of small livestock value chains, among other interventions.

PRISM Project Operations Manager, Joseph Nshokeyinka has said its components are climate-smart intensification of small livestock production systems; support to small livestock value chain development and policy support and coordination.

The five years’ project has a total cost of US$ 45.64 million from IFAD, Enabel, Heifer International and other partners. It started in 2021and is supposed to be closed in September 2026.

Other pig slaughterhouses were built in Ruhango, Nyamagabe, Huye, Gicumbi, Nyamasheke, Rulindo, Karongi, Burera and Musanze Districts.