CAR. Support to ANEP, Association of Pig Breeders

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marker icon Central African Republic   
07-03-2022 | di COOPI

CAR. Support to ANEP, Association of Pig Breeders

In the Central African Republic, COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale continues to support the National Association of Pig Breeders (ANEP), through the urban component of the so-called PAPEUR, "Programme of support for the promotion of entrepreneurship at urban and rural level", financed by the European Union through the Bekou Fund.

ANEP, composed of 213 members, was founded in 1998 in Bangui, to defend the interests of the actors of the entire pig farming value chain. Its main purposes:

  • the facilitation of entrepreneurship of young farmers through the provision of working tools and inputs;
  • the strengthening of technical capacities;
  • the maintenance and development of technical and commercial collaborations with actors in the sector;
  • the sanitation of the general practice environment;
  • the strengthening of the legal and institutional framework in collaboration with the authorities in the sector.

COOPI's contribution to the association is not new, as explained by ANEP : "COOPI has started supporting the ANEP organisation since July 2017 with the PARFEC project operating on three levels: infrastructural support with the brand new creation of the Samba mixed parental station in the commune of Bimbo, Bangui; capacity building support with the qualifying basic training of 295 pig breeders at livestock and veterinary level; and support for the genetic strengthening of smallholder herds including essentially the distribution of improved parents serving as breeding units. "

Regarding this last point, ANEP adds: "With the support of the PARFEC project, COOPI has equipped the organisation with a parental station for the reproduction and commercial distribution of young cattle with high genetic potential. In addition, under the PAPEUR project, farmers are being made aware of the need to respect good cross-breeding rules to avoid inbreeding, which would lead genetically enriched herds back to the initial problem of genetic degeneration."

With regard to infrastructural support of the Samba station and the strengthening of other material productive capacities, COOPI will give particular importance to:

  • the construction of a cesspool and the extension of the piggery building;
  • the support of parental multiplication by providing essential inputs;
  • the provision of transport to serve the station and to reach the areas.

Achieving these objectives, there are many difficulties and challenges for the sector. First of all, the lack of means to relocate breeding sites to the outskirts of towns, and secondly, the lack of financial means, especially agricultural credit, for small-scale breeders to be fully supported. A truly integrated strategy for a holistic renaissance of pig farming (combining youth support, feed, medicine, buildings and tools) requires access for small farmers to the heavy means of production that is the housing infrastructure. For the association, access to credit for small producers is the best way to ensure a real kick-off.