Podcast: Huge potential for pig production in Africa

The Real P3 podcast series is an initiative where pork professionals from around the world are interviewed about challenges and solutions in their day-to-day work. In this episode, Dr Casey Bradley speaks to South African farmer, Steven Payne.

After completing his master’s degree in poultry nutrition, Payne went on to work with pre-mix company, DSM nutritional products, and serviced the Sub-Saharan African territory as an account manager. Here he gained plenty of experience and exposure to the challenges, opportunities and potential in farming on the African continent.

Farmer trapped in Johannesburg

After 6 years with DSM, he set out on his own and in 2009 began Urban Farmer (inspired from him being “an aspiring farmer trapped within the urban jungle of Johannesburg”) with the intention of better servicing farmers throughout Africa. At the company’s core is animal feed and nutrition.

Utilising what is available is very important, he says, noting that there are numerous challenges. It would be a mistake to look at Africa and treat it with a blanket approach, he warns. Each country has its own unique challenges.

In this podcast, Payne discusses some of the challenges, including input availability and costs, poor demand for pork on the continent, and a lack of infrastructure, expertise and support services.

Regardless, he is encouraged by the huge potential for the continent in terms of production, and the hunger for knowledge by many young farmers.

Earlier episodes of the podcast

In the previous weeks, Pig Progress published earlier episodes of the Real P3 podcast series:

• The prologue of the podcast series;
• Episode 1: Mihaela Angheluta, Denmark;
• Episode 2: Christine Snowden, Ohio, United States;
• Episode 3: Johan Odendall, Zimbabwe;
• Episode 4: James Lamb, North Carolina, United States;
• Episode 5: Dr Wayne Johnson, China;
• Episode 6: Colin Twomey, Ireland;
• Episode 7: Paul Faris, United States;
• Episode 8: A recap of 2020;
• Episode 9: Angie Krieger, United States;
• Episode 10: Henry Silva, United States;
• Episode 11: Shannon Dierking, United States;
• Episode 12: Sanne Baden, Denmark;
• Episode 13: Brian Strobel, United States;
• Episode 14: Nii Odoi, Ghana;
• Episode 15: Pieter Beerens, the Netherlands.