Pig value chain in Uganda: Considering smallholders’ functional upgrading prospects

Pig production and marketing have the potential to accelerate Uganda’s economic development through the improvement of the family welfare of smallholder farmers and provision of employment. However, this potential is undermined by systemic market barriers which include limited access to market information, poor market linkages, and inadequate access to inputs and extension services. These challenges notwithstanding, pork consumption has been on the rise in recent decades and Uganda has the highest pork consumption per capita in Sub-Saharan Africa. There have been notable efforts by the Government and development partners to curb constraints in the pig value chain; nonetheless, these interventions are yet to deliver the target development objective. The value chain is still undeveloped with poorly organized informal markets in which most farmers sell live pigs to local butchers or to town-based traders. Farmers hardly engage in slaughtering or processing of pig products or make any off-farm efforts of searching for the best markets. As a result, they are reduced to ‘price takers’ being taken advantage of by middlemen who pay very low prices for the pigs, recline the live weight of animals and sometimes do not pay on time. Value chain functional upgrading has been suggested to be a remedy that would enable farmers to not only capture more value but also spread risks. This review, therefore, sought to evaluate the existing knowledge on pig value chain functional upgrading in Uganda and draw conclusions with a potential to shape policy, civil society advocacy and future research directions. It was established that some farmers are already engaged in pig value chain functional upgrading and demonstrated good attitude towards for improving the pig value chain. The study recommends that farmers engage more in the functional upgrading of the pig value chain so as to realize reduced production costs per unit of output which in turn results in improved farm profitability.