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Small, Healthy, High-Yielding the Years of War Have Led to a Rapid Decline in the Nutritional Status of People in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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Small, Healthy, High-Yielding the Years of War Have Led to a Rapid Decline in the Nutritional Status of People in the Democratic Republic of Congo International Platform Small, healthy, high-yielding The years of war have led to a rapid decline in the nutritional status of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. To cover their protein requirements, the rural population in the Kivu region in the east of the country have turned to raising guinea pigs. For many families these rodents are nowadays not just a vital element of their food security, but also an essential source of income. Since the beginning of the great n Guinea pigs are a source of read- of every ten households in rural areas wars – which began in Kivu towards ily available meat and income for breed guinea pigs in herds, varying in 1992 and gained in intensity between producers who raise them in large number from six to thirty, depending the years 1996 and 2003 – the pro- quantities; on whether they are in the territories duction of cattle, small ruminants and n They supply good-quality organic of Fizi, Mwenga and Shabunda, or in swine paid a heavy toll, having served fertiliser for the fi elds; Kabare and Walungu, the two latter ter- as rations for the various armed groups. n Minimum startup capital is required; ritories, experiencing a strong demo- Since then, the path has been cleared n Feeding them is very cheap and does graphic explosion, being large pro- for guinea pig production and preju- not compete with food for humans duction areas. Guinea pigs are mainly dices formerly held against this animal (fodder, kitchen waste, etc.); raised by women and children (83 % have been swept away (see box). It is n Guinea pig husbandry is easy, the of all cases). They guarantee their food not surprising, therefore, to note that animals can be raised by children, security. For low-income populations, guinea pig meat, until then reserved for even from poor families; who barely have any access to other very young children in the province of n Poor households who wish to re- types of meat (beef, goat or mutton, South Kivu, is currently consumed by establish their livestock production etc.) or fi sh, guinea pig meat is cheap men, women and children of all ages. can begin with guinea pigs and the and provides them with their chief income obtained from selling them source of animal protein. can facilitate access to other animals n A widewide rangerange ofof advantagesadvantages such as goats, sheep, swine and even cows. n ...... aandnd asas a sourcesource ooff iincomencome The growing interest in raising guinea pigs can be explained by some Demand still far exceeds supply. At of the following reasons : n GGuineauinea pigspigs playplay a rolerole iinn ffoodood the small local markets, in particular in ssecurityecurity ...... n Guinea pigs grow very fast and multi- ply rapidly (four to fi ve litters a year); Guinea pig production in South n They rarely suffer from diseases Kivu is a supplementary agricultural when raised under minimally hygi- activity, generally practised in a rustic, enic conditions; traditional way. It is mainly intended n They are a source of low-fat, protein- for home consumption. Today, guinea rich meat; pig production is widespread and is practised in almost every poor house- hold. The surveys we conducted in Thierry Mètre July/August 2010 among 625 house- Agronomist Engineer holds in South Kivu demonstrate – Coordinator, Association Villages together with those carried out by Cobayes (VICO asbl) the NGOs Malteser International in (Village Guinea-Pig Association) 2007 and Women for Women Inter- South-Kivu, Democratic Republic national in 2008 during evaluations of Congo of their food security projects in the [email protected] intervention zones – that eight out 40 Rural 21 – 01/2011 International Platform Mugogo (25 km to the west of Bukavu Guinea pigs in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the Bukavu to Shabunda road), there has been a proliferation of small The guinea pig (Cavia porcellus L.) originated in the Andes. These monogastric restaurants that sell guinea pig meat. herbivorous animals can digest fi bres more effi ciently than rabbits. In all the Andean School-age children come to these to regions of South America (mainly Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) guinea pigs are bred for cook their guinea pig meat lunches. human consumption. Its white meat is lean and protein-rich. They either breed the guinea pigs Not much information is available about the arrival of guinea pigs in the Democratic themselves or buy them at the mar- Republic of Congo, but they were probably introduced by Western explorers and/ ket. Their mothers help them prepare or missionaries (Europeans), because the people who frequented Europeans were the starchy food (bananas, potatoes, the fi rst to breed these animals. At that time, society as a whole justifi ably regarded manioc fufu, etc.) that is eaten with these animals as a sort of rat or mouse, and guinea pigs were consequently subject to it. Market stallholders, of all ages and contempt and taboos of all sorts. both sexes, come to them to satisfy their hunger in the middle of the day. The results of our survey of 86 peo- bage, amaranth, onions, tomatoes, Moreover, guinea pigs generate a ple (63 women and 23 men), con- etc.), some of which are consumed and considerable income for poor families. ducted in July/August 2010 confi rmed the rest sold. A guinea pig fetches on average 1.5 US that the people who come to mar- dollars (USD), and in certain circum- ket to buy guinea pigs either wish to stances (for example when sold at one start breeding guinea pigs (38 % of n GGuineauinea pigpig multiplicationmultiplication of the mining sites) the price per guinea all respondents) or purchase meat for aandnd selectionselection centrecentre pig can reach 3 USD. A whole trading their daily food requirements (55.7 % system has been built up around this of all respondents), or indeed for resale In view of the growing interest and animal. Traders come to the large pro- (6.3 % of all respondents). considering the breeding techniques duction centres or markets to obtain on this subject, we thought it would their guinea pig stocks which they The income from the sale of these be appropriate to propose sustainable then take to places located more than animals helps solve many everyday exploitation strategies in order to raise two hundred kilometres away from the problems. These include paying for the productivity of these animals. With supply site, where the profi t margin is children’s education, access to pri- our own funds we constructed a repro- considerably higher. Various players are mary health care, buying clothes, duction and selection centre to breed involved in the process, namely pro- sugar, cooking salt, etc. A particular guinea pigs with good reproductive ducers/breeders, wholesalers, retailers/ feature is that some of the experienced potential, which has been in opera- dealers and small restaurant owners. guinea pig breeders then purchase tion since March 2009. This centre is However, it should also be pointed out other animals, such as goats and pigs, located in the province of South Kivu, that producers themselves are at the in exchange for a certain number of in Nduba, in the territory of Walungu, same time the main retailers. guinea pigs. A young she-goat costs 45 kilometres west of Bukavu. The USD 30, which is equivalent to 15 to 20 centre’s goal is, fi rst, to study the per- guinea pigs, and is precisely the annual formance of the guinea pigs from the offspring obtained from a guinea pig region, identify the different diseases of under good conditions; a piglet costs these animals, select the best animals USD 20, which is exchanged for 10 to for breeding and then distribute these 14 guinea pigs. among interested local farmers, while disseminating good livestock hus- Furthermore, guinea pigs produce bandry practices, as well as to produce good quality manure which is used fattened guinea pigs (mainly males) to as fertiliser for the fi elds, thus increas- supply small restaurants. ing agricultural production. In house- holds where guinea pigs are bred the Initially, the centre began with manure is mainly used in the kitchen 110 guinea pigs (100 females and 10 gardens for growing vegetables (cab- males), obtained from various locations in the region. Today the centre houses more than 700 guinea pigs, after hav- Selling guinea pigs at ing sold at least 256 guinea pigs that Photo: T. Mètre Photo: T. Mugogo market. did not meet the standards, and 100 Rural 21 – 01/2011 41 International Platform Many small restaurants offering guinea-pig dishes have emerged in rural communities. Issues regarding diseases are not being followed up rationally so far, although, in general, guinea pigs do not suffer from diseases if bred and raised in good conditions. n CConclusiononclusion aandnd ooutlookutlook Guinea pigs today provide a better opportunity to help poor households in South Kivu overcome the situation of severe food insecurity and poverty. At this stage, where the majority of the population already breeds and con- Photo: T. Mètre Photo: T. sumes this meat, the main pending task consists in setting up sustainable parent animals from the research cen- be done is still enormous, but given strategies to improve the guinea pigs tre of the Institut Supérieur Agrovétéri- the lack of any kind of support, work breeding system. In Latin America, 2 naire (ISAV) of Kinshasa. cannot proceed at the pace that one to 3-kg guinea pigs are already pro- might wish. For example, we would duced, as a result of long years of selec- At present we are only at the stage like to obtain breeding stock from Latin tion, compared to South Kivu where of reproducing and selecting breed- America (Peru) in order to organise the weight of an adult animal hardly ing animals.
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