Smallholders in Rwanda may struggle with pig breeding since they frequently need to travel a distance of several kilometers to obtain pig semen or hire a male stud. However, a prototype experiment that sends swine semen to farms by drone is changing the situation. Since the beginning of this year, Zipline, the project’s creator, has been running it in collaboration with RAB, the Rwandan Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board.
East Rwandan town of Kayonza is home to pig breeder Isaiah Rugirababiri. He supports the program that also makes animal health goods available. “The fact that this pig semen was delivered by drone and is from a productive breed is what inspired me to use it. I don’t have to worry as much about the breed and quality I’ve picked using this approach “, the farmer says.
This program aims to promote Rwanda’s food self-sufficiency by raising livestock production. Out of the 145 pigs that Anicet Karambizi has been breeding for 11 years, 82 were born as a result of drone seed delivery. According to him, the approach may also lessen the threat of contagious illnesses like African swine fever. “With the help of this drone-transported pig semen, my pig productivity has greatly increased. We used to have a lot of issues with inbreeding when we utilized boars, but we can now tell the difference. We receive them on schedule thanks to the drone delivery, and the farmer is very certain that he has the appropriate breed “the pig breeder explains.
Smallholders pay between $6.50 and $10 USD to inseminate a female pig, and the government covers the cost of the drone transportation.
According to Solange Uwituze, Deputy Director General of Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, “The deployment of drones to improve our national heads and also the life of our livestock in a bid to provide more, or perhaps I should say sufficient and nutritious food is very welcome and is what we are trying” (RAB).
To double the anticipated 1.8 million pig population, RAB has set a goal of employing drones to inseminate more than 150,000 pigs annually.
