INNOVATION DRIVES GROWTH

DR THANDI CHIAPPERO

Programme Manager: One Health Consumer Assurance shares why SAPPO has invested in an innovative animal movement app

USING THE APP STEP 1: REGISTRATION

Register as a user on the World of Pork

Visit www.worldofpork.com and register as a user or click on the following link: World of Pork Registration

Register your business

After registering as a user, navigate to My Business, then to Register New Business. Complete the registration form and submit the registration. The World of Pork team will review your application and notify you once your registration has been accepted. Alternatively, please contact info@worldofpork.com should you require assistance.

STEP 2: RECORDING A MOVEMENT

• SAPPO’s Consumer Assurance team and the World of Pork administration team can view all movement data.

• All captured data will be treated as highly confidential.

Recording Movements

Before you can record a movement, you must be registered as a user and linked to a pig-producing business. Please follow the steps (detailed in the box alongside) applicable to your situation.

The South African Pork Producers Organisation (SAPPO) has introduced its Animal Movement App, a tool enabling South African pig producers to record the movements of pigs between their World of Pork-registered units to other producers and to abattoirs. SAPPO invested in this tool to strengthen its members’ ability to provide an assurance to consumers, stakeholders and trade partners that South African pork products are safe to eat, have been produced in an ethical manner, and are traceable throughout the value chain. Recording animal movements enables:

• backward and forward tracing during a disease outbreak, which enables faster resolution;

• validation of compartmentalised pigs to move to export abattoirs;

• validation that Pork 360-certi ed pigs move to Pork 360-certi ed abattoirs; and

• assistance in facilitating animal movements within South Africa and in protecting current pork exports, valued at R400-million, to countries in Southern Africa, Asia and Europe, and potentially fostering new trade relationships in the future.

WHO HAS ACCESS TO THIS DATA?

Access to movement data can be categorised as follows:

• Any user linked to the producer’s business can access movement data sent from the business.

• Any user linked to the destination business can access movement data received by the business.

Producers and members of their team can record movements between production units to other producers and to abattoirs registered on the World of Pork platform.

Sign into your World of Pork account

Sign in using the same email and password that you used to register on the World of Pork.

Create a new movement

Once signed into your World of Pork account, select the Animal Movement menu, then select Record a Movement. Select Create New Movement and complete basic movement information in Step 1. Select Next.

Optional

Upload movement documents in Step 2. Select Add in Step 3. Complete at least the Required and Product Type sections when creating a batch. At least one batch needs to be added to a movement. Select one of the following:

• Submit at the bottom of the page to fi nalise the movement.

• Save Draft to fi nalise and submit the movement at a later stage.

• Exit Movement to clear all captured data and cancel the movement.

• If neither you nor your business are registered on the World of Pork platform, please complete steps 1 and 2.

• If you are already registered and linked to an existing producer business, please complete step 2.

• If you are registered, but not linked to your business, please contact the World of Pork team at info@worldofpork.com for assistance.

NEED ASSISTANCE?

For any questions on the application, or if you need any assistance with the SAPPO Animal Movement App, please send an email to thandi@sappo.org or info@worldofpork.com or call 012 100 3035.

Scan this QR code to go directly to the SAPPO website.

For more information: 012 100 3035 info@worldofpork.com www.sappo.org

LUCAS LEDWABA talks to three farmers about what drives their passion and commitment to seeing their sector change lives

Farming is not a glamorous occupation, says pig farmer Modisaotsile Kenny Mocwiri. “It takes a lot of hard work and commitment, but what you really need is passion. If your aim is just to make money, then maybe farming is not for you. Yes, there is money in farming, but it’s much more than that.”

Never have truer words been spoken. The realities of the challenges farmers face have deterred many a youth from opting for gumboots rather than a suit. However, as pig farmers Mocwiri, Johan van der Walt from Limpopo and Michael Fysh from Gauteng believe, if farming is in your heart, success will follow. These farmers are an example of a new wave of protein producers who are creating jobs and reducing negative impacts on the environment.

While Mocwiri is today an award-winning pork producer in Lichtenburg in the North West province, he started farming after learning the finer points of the business on the internet. “I grew up in a village, and decided after staying in Pretoria during my studies that, as an introvert, I needed my own private space, while also wanting to be close to my father. I wanted to grow personally and not work for somebody else,” he says of his decision to join the family cattle farm after graduating in financial management studies. Mocwiri’s dream is to grow his business so that he can create more jobs in the area, where unemployment and poverty levels are high. Currently his farm produces on average 100 pigs a month, which puts him in the small-scale producer category, but his aim is to grow and play in the big league of largescale commercial pig farmers.

About Sappo

The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) enables and facilitates a sustainable and profitable pork value chain by providing strategic direction, rendering specialised services, and supporting people development.

SAPPO represents close to 700 producers and closely interacts with input suppliers, abattoirs, processors, and retailers in the pork value chain. These relationships enable SAPPO to coordinate industry interventions, and collaboratively manage risks in the pork value chain. SAPPO also liaises with various agricultural stakeholders, including the South African government, international organisations, and the larger livestock industry.

SAPPO actively positions itself as an innovator and leader in agriculture. Over the years, SAPPO’s industry interventions have yielded a significant impact. As the global landscape changes, SAPPO is constantly looking for new ways to unlock value for the South African pork industry.

The organisation is recognised by the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and key agricultural role players as the representative industry organisation for pork producers.

Keeping it in the family

Fysh and Van der Walt are true examples of the apple not falling far from the tree. Both their fathers were pig farmers and they followed in their footsteps to carry on the family tradition.

Van der Walt runs a commercial pig farm in the Settlers area in southeastern Limpopo. “My dad was a farmer and sort of an environmentalist, and that’s where I think I got the passion for farming,” says Van der Walt, who graduated from the University of Pretoria’s school of agriculture.

His family were initially crop farmers but later ventured into pig farming. “My dad and my mother both started with pigs on the farm to increase cash flow, since crop farming only provides an income once a year.” Later, together with his brother, they joined the family’s pig farming business and helped to grow it.

Van der Walt has found an innovative and environmentally friendly way to dispose of the carcasses of pigs that die on the farm. He runs what environmentalists call a “vulture restaurant”, a fenced-off area where nature’s clean-up army gathers to feast on dead pigs that would otherwise have gone to waste. Due to the highly corrosive stomach acid in a vulture’s stomach, they are able to digest food that could otherwise be harmful to other animals.

Van der Walt reveals there were no vulture colonies in the area prior to the establishment of the restaurant. “We fenced off a piece of land of about 70 square metres, put water within the fenced area as well as the pig carcasses and just hoped that the vultures would come. It took a considerable while, coupled with a lot of patience, but then indeed one day, they arrived,” he says with pride.

The restaurant provides immense value to South Africa’s wildlife, as vulture populations are dwindling due to poisoning. With safe and consistent access to food at the pig farm, the vulture populations can flourish while researchers have easy access to the birds.

“We fenced off a piece of land of about 70 square metres, put water WITHIN THE fenced area as well as the pig CARCASSES AND just hoped that the vultures would come.” – Johan van der Walt

The Sappo Academy

To cater for various training and development needs, the South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) has launched an online training academy called the SAPPO Academy.

The platform offers basic principles of pig production courses, consisting of 11 modules. Modules may be individually purchased or purchased as a group at a discounted rate.

Each module consists of a video, downloadable notes, and an assessment to be completed online. A certificate of attendance can automatically be downloaded upon completion of the assessment.

The course can be accessed by registering at: https://www.sappoacademy.com/ sappoacademylanding

For more information, please contact the SAPPO office at 012 100 3035 or admin@sappo.org

From manure to motor Fysh, who runs a pig farm in Honingnestkranz near Pretoria, also chose the farming life having graduating with an unrelated degree –in information technology. When his father’s health failed around 2003, Fysh decided to come help out at the farm and never left. His approach is to tread lightly on the earth, and has established a system that turns pig manure into biogas, a welcome intervention in the age of constant load shedding. “Some years ago, we decided we wanted to do something useful with our waste.

We embarked on quite a long journey, with some bumps in the road, but the result is that we have a biogas system that produces about 150 kilowatts (kW), or 15 hours of power, a day.”

Manure is collected and put into a biodigester that facilitates a biological process to produce bacteria. The biodigester consists of a plastic-lined and covered reservoir, which Fysh describes as something like a covered swimming pool. “The bacteria eat whatever nutrients are left in the feed over a period of time, releasing a by-product called biogas, which is methane rich. We then put that through a process to remove various elements like water, and once that is complete, we put it into a modified petrol motor to generate power.” He adds that the system can achieve a potential 250kW.

Fysh’s passion, however, remains pig farming. His farm employs up to 40 full-time staff, who tend to an average 13 000 pigs present on the property at any given time. “I think pig farming is as good as any other farming. You do need to be very careful, however, to do your research and understand the challenges before you leap into it. But if you are passionate, I believe you can make it work.”

WHAT REALLY GOES DOWN ON A PIG FARM?

An innovative documentary series reveals the real character behind some of South Africa’s pork producers. Born out of a need to inform the consumers about pig farmers and cultivation practices, the South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) launched a video series called SAPPO Selekt: Satisfy Your Curiosity to provide an understanding of the agricultural sector and help consumers better understand where their food comes from.

Christian Zimelka, SAPPO’s head of consumer education, explains that following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the organisation was forced to hold its annual general meeting online, an event that also drew pork producer organisations from countries around the world. These were invited to share their challenges and plans on farming in the future. “What emerged was that everyone was facing a similar problem: the disconnect between farmers and consumers. Most consumers don’t really know where their food comes from – who grows and produces it. They don’t know their personal stories, their passions or how they aid the environment.”

Zimelka adds that consumers’ views about farming and farmers are often shaped by skewed, negative reporting in the media. This is why SAPPO decided to dig deeper, to understand the personal narrative of each farmer and why they do what they do, then present the information to the public so that they could see first-hand how farms are run.

Pork Facts

• SAPPO represents around 550 pork producers in South Africa.

• Small-scale producers form an integral part of South Africa’s pork industry. The total number of pigs kept in informal herds in 2021 was estimated at 893 000.

• The sector supports thousands of livelihoods and provides affordable protein to consumers in rural areas.

• The asset value of the informal herd equates to approximately R1.24 billion.

Source: Agri Handbook for South Africa

The videos have been hugely popular and have sparked a greater debate around better informing the public about what really happens on farms. To see where your pork chops come from, view the online video documentary series at sappo.org/selekt