Piggery construction and management

SCERA established a community piggery at the Laminga community in 2012, starting with just 10 pigs. Youths (young men and women) from among the local community were trained on Pork processing and Piggery Management. The training was carried out by Dr Babajide Agboola, a Veterinary doctor and wildlife expert. For a period of one year, they managed the piggery supervised by SCERA. After satisfactory feedback, it was decided to test-run a hand over of the piggery to the community. The stipend for the piggery managers was discontinued and community members took over the management of the piggery for four months before it was finally handled over to them after coming up with a management plan. Seven years later, the community piggery still thrives, initially starting with clans rotating the management of the piggery, a women’s group who had also received training during the project took over management of the piggery and have managed it to date.

The various community-based conservation activities have increased community support for the protection of the Forest Reserve. The success of this project underpins the importance of community-led or community-based approaches to conservation. SCERA believes that to sustainably manage a forest and to secure community support for conservation, they have to be seen as partners in the ‘project’ to create a sense of ownership, as nature is best protected by those who live closest to it, those who are the true custodians of the forest.

Provision of Borehole Water

As part of its community development activities, SCERA has constructed three boreholes and reconstructed and remodeled an old, dilapidated borehole in the three communities around Amurum Forest Reserve. One of the boreholes was constructed in the same location as the piggery in the Laminga Community to provide water for the functioning of the piggery. Prior to this, women trekked long distances to fetch water. Also, activities in and around the local stream was leading to pollution of the stream. Provision of portable drinking water made easily accessible to the communities helped to improve the quality of life and at the same time minimized environmental impact on the local stream.

Training in biogas production and construction of model bio-digester

A workshop on the production of biogas from animal dung using a low-tech bio-digester was organized for 21 youths from the local communities. For the purpose of demonstration, cow dung instead of the pig dung was used for the testing of the biogas and slurry because the piggery had not generated enough pig waste to carry out the experiment. Participants were taught how to construct the bio-digester, made up of a wooden trough and a polyethylene bag into which cow dung mixture was introduced. After a period of 2 weeks to allow for anaerobic digestion, the biogas was tested using a Bunsen burner. The importance of biogas as an alternative source of energy was explained to participants and the use of the treated slurry as a more environment friendly manure for farming was demonstrated, in addition to having much less health hazards than untreated animal waste.