UPLift--Poverty Alleviation For The Ultra-Poor


Friday, June 13, 2014

Six Little Piggies

Yesterday, our pregnant sow at KLDF's natural farming model farm gave birth to six little piglets! These piglets are a cross between commercial pigs and wild pigs, which gives them a natural boosted immunity, as well as an ability to live healthily off of a diet that is not uniformly commercial feed.

By raising these pigs on fermented banana stalk pig feed, (which Uplift makes entirely from scratch at a fraction of the cost of purchasing store feed,) we can help teach small scale farmers how to bring in additional income, without risking as much resources in doing so.

In some cases, the cost of raising pigs on commercial feed compared to the profit earned from selling the meat actually results in a net loss. Our methods of pig rearing help to eliminate these risks, providing small scale farmers a secure source of income.

Additionally, now that KLDF is raising these six piglets from birth, we are learning newer and better ways to reduce the costs of a small scale pig rearing enterprise. We now can teach small scale farmers living on a subsistence level how to start a pig rearing enterprise entirely from just one mother sow!

Through sound pilot projects, we continue to learn better methods of helping those in Mae Sot and Karen state, who are full of potential to escape from poverty, but are lacking the basic means and resources to do so. By granting them access to these methods and resources through our practical training, we allow those in need to achieve a better and more wholesome lifestyle, all through their own efforts and achievements. If you think about it, that is exactly how grassroots development is supposed to work.