Lajul’s love for rearing pigs, turkeys and fish

A proud Ajul looks on as his birds including turkeys and ducks feed outside the shelter. Photo by Julius Ocungi

What you need to know:

  • Lajul says pig sties should have four sections — one for water, another for food, a place to sleep and place to dump droppings.
  • This is because pigs collect a lot of parasites with the most common one being trichinella. “Trichinella gets absorbed into pork and causes trichinellosis infection when consumed by humans,” Lajul explains.

After 10 minutes of a short drive on Gulu-Kampala highway, I finally arrive at Eric Lajul’s farm in Layibi Division, Gulu Municipality.
I am ushered into his compound by structures that occupy about 10 by 100 feet of his two-acre farm.

The wooden structures are sties in which pigs are chewing away on fodder. Some can be seen resting while others are snuffing and snouting. Some sows and boars are in droves of 10 to 15 while others are alone in their sties.
Two years ago, the lawyer told Seeds of Gold he was on a mission to become one of Uganda’s best farmer. We promised to make a follow up and true to his words then, the sky seems the limit to Lajul’s dream.

“The one who is lying on hay is about to deliver. Once she starts moving hay to a corner, I’ll know that she is about to give me a new litter of piglets and my attendant will keep watch,” says Lajul.
In another sty are five hungry-looking pigs. “These ones gave birth recently and are recovering. They have been secluded so that they can be given more food with added proteins for body-building,” says Lajul.

Yet in another are more than 30 piglets. Lajul shows us one dominant piglet that is feared and revered in equal measure by the rest.
From his explanation, Lajul could easily be mistaken for an animal health officer. But he is a practicing lawyer who works as a legal officer with Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative [ALRPI], an interfaith organisation in northern Uganda.

How he started
According to Lajul, his farm had been in operation while he was still in secondary school where he had a cow, goats and chicken but later he expanded it to a commercial and modern farm in 2015 shortly after graduating from law school.
“I got my first job at KK&Co Advocate and I made sure that I saved some money to expand my farm from my salary,” says Lajul.
He invested Shs4m in the farm where he used part of it to construct a pig house/shade besides buying a pregnant improved breed of pig and pig feeds.

Types of pigs
Lajul keeps camborough, large white, saddleback, land race and local varieties.
In May last year when swine fever killed a big number of his pigs, Lajul resigned his position as a legal officer and returned to Gulu District to revamp and properly manage his farm that was at the verge of collapse.
Today, he boasts of a drove of 150 pigs and counting.
He has 97 pigs on his farm, out of which 20 are pregnant while 10 are ready for sale.

The prices
Lajul sells each piglet at Shs150,000 while on average he sells mature pigs at Shs600,000. So far, he has sold 60 pigs.
Lajul earns between Shs1.5m to Shs2m per week from selling piglets to farmers. He says his markets cuts across the entire northern region and extends up to Juba in South Sudan.
“I had never associated pigs with a source of income. This is the best decision I have ever made in my life,” he says adding, “I discovered that keeping pigs is very easy — you just feed them in the morning, clean their sties during the day and feed them again in the evening.”

Diseases
However Lajul says, pigs are susceptible to many diseases which include African swine fever, Pneumonia, external and internal parasites and common injuries arising from fights.
But he says for one to counter the diseases, early vaccination and treatment of pigs is advisable.
He says piglets are given general treatment after weaning, dewormed every three months and sprayed with acaricides against ticks and flies which affect them mostly during the rainy season.

Feeding pigs
Lajul said the pigs are fed on feeds such as, sunflower, soya and cotton cake.
He adds that he also feeds them on grounded silver fish which has all the components of carbohydrate, protein, minerals and vitamins.
The lawyer also noted that the pigs feed on kitchen leftovers, rice, maize brands, potatoes and cassava peelings.

Advice
Lajul says pig sties should have four sections — one for water, another for food, a place to sleep and place to dump droppings.
This is because pigs collect a lot of parasites with the most common one being trichinella. “Trichinella gets absorbed into pork and causes trichinellosis infection when consumed by humans,” Lajul explains.

Other enterprises
Lajul has diversified his farm and among others he rears turkeys, ducks, keeps fish, grows vegetables and keeps cattle.
“The farm is expanding and this makes me proud,” he said.

Fish farming
Lajul is also engaged in fish farming. He has two fish ponds measuring 30 by 15 metres and 12 by six metres respectively which he uses for breeding more than 8,000 tilapia and cat fish.

Rearing turkeys
Turkeys are also another money-maker for Lajul. He got the first turkeys from his friend in 2017 though he had to buy a cock from a farmer in Laliya village, Gulu District.
“Turkeys start laying at five to six months. I sell turkey eggs and a day-old turkeys to other farmers. At three to five months, the turkeys cost Shs60,000 and a mature one goes for Shs100,000,” says Lajul.

He feeds the poults (young turkey) on starter mash before changing to growers mash at the end of two months, which he gradually mixes with maize before he lets them free to scavenge for insects on the farm.
“One good thing about turkeys is that they hatch all the eggs they are given unless they are spoilt. They are also very protective of their chicks and hence there are rare cases of them losing the young ones unless they are affected by diseases,” says Lajul.

Challenges
However, it is all not rosy, one of the challenges he has to grapple with is inbreeding.
“Since few people keep turkeys there is a high chance that closely related birds will mate and this will produce ‘weak’ chicks. I usually get a new cock regularly from other farms to reduce the chances of inbreeding,” he says.