Training Applied pig management
It’s been two years since Ebenezer Gyamera left the Aeres Training Centre International and returned to Ghana. When we asked him if there’s anything that he’ll never forget about the Netherlands, he mentioned the excellent quality of the training programme. “I will never forget the numerous facts I learned about pigs. Since my return I have been an ambassador for your training centre,” he says.
Ebenezer says: “I’m currently investigating the use of local ingredients for pig feed. We are testing different enzymes to obtain a high-energy feed with the right concentration of ingredients for optimal pig growth and health.”
In 2015, Ebenezer won the PUM Award for the best BHIP on pigs. The BHIP is an assignment in which students create an improvement plan for their situation back home. Ebenezer’s plan focused on the Danso pig farm, located in the Cape Coast metropolis in the Central Region of Ghana. The objective of Ebenezer’s BHIP was to increase productivity of sows, reduce piglet mortality, reduce the time it takes for fatteners to reach slaughter weights, and to ensure a more regular income and increase the overall profitability of the farm.
Ebenezer: “Mr Danso, the owner of Danso pig farm, has successfully implemented my BHIP. I am still in close contact with him and visit his farm every month. Every adjustment that I suggested was implemented. Except for the farrowing crates to reduce piglet mortality. At Danso pig farm one of the contributing factors to the crushing of piglets by the sows, was the absence of farrowing crates in the farrowing pens. In my BHIP I suggested the use of farrowing crates made of wood. At Danso they now use farrowing crates made of galvanized steel. More sustainable and with the same function.”
It’s been two years now since Ebenezer left the Netherlands. When we ask him if and how his life changed since then, he answers: “It changed a lot. For my PhD I am currently researching pig farming as well as animal feed. My research on the use of enzymes was initially not the plan, but during my work I realised that to improve digestibility of the high fibre-based ingredients, you have to use enzymes in pig feed. Another major part of my work in animal nutrition as well as pig production is training farmers in Ghana.
Since my training at Aeres TCI, I am often invited to facilitate trainings for farmers, both within and outside my work area. During a seminar for farmers organised annually by De Heus company in the Netherlands, I was invited to be a facilitator for the pig aspect. Furthermore, I am now a consultant for farmers. I give them help and advice, also on a technical level.”