The Tanzania Association of Pig Farmers (Tapifa) has said the east African nation imports 52,000 tonnes of pork annually.
Tapifa, an apex private sector member-based organisation that advocates for the growth and competitiveness of the pig farming industry in the country, said on Saturday that Tanzania was only producing 27,000 tonnes of pork annually.
The figures were given by Tapifa secretary Collins Ritenga in a meeting between pig farmers and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) held in the Mbeya region in Tanzania’s southern highlands.
According to Ritenga, the meeting brought together pig farmers from Mbeya, Iringa, Katavi and Rukwa regions to discuss strategies aimed at controlling the African swine fever which had been a major challenge in the southern highlands regions.
More than 500 pigs were killed by the African swine fever in Kahama district in the Shinyanga region in northern Tanzania between December 2020 and January 2021.
Published by The EastAfrican
