Family benefits from pig farming

Friday, May 9, 2014

Dilip,10, is a World Vision sponsored child who lives in a rural village of Morang district. He likes to go to school and studies in the fifth grade. At home, in his free time he enjoys feeding his pigs and piglets. 

Two years ago, Dilip’s mother Shanti Devi Uraw joined a pig rearing and savings group run with the support of World Vision. She was trained to rear pigs and received a pig in an exchange programme. In a matter of time, the pig gave birth to 12 piglets. One was returned to the group and the rest were sold for a fair amount.

With the savings, Shanti and her husband built a house in the land they lived to replace their old dilapidated house. Today, she continues to rear pigs and has one pig and seven piglets. She also manages to run a mobile tea shop in the evenings.

Rajshree Devi Uraw who has been leading the pig rearing group says, “We have 20 members in our group and we meet every month to deposit NRs 20 as a part of our savings, discuss any issues and help each other solve problems. We are doing good business of selling pigs. People from other villages have heard about the pigs we have been rearing and often come to us to buy pigs, which is mostly sold between NRs 15-20,000 per pig.”

World Vision is helping run 20 such pig rearing groups in the areas where it works in Morang. 

Livelihoods is a key sector through which World Vision contributes to diversifying livelihood options and increasing the income and assets of marginal and poor families in Nepal.