36 pig butchers receive certificates

The Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency (GLMA) recently gave certificates to 36 pig butchers across the country after participating in a three-day training on meat hygiene, handling and processing.

The trainer officials say the exercise was meant to help participants to ameliorate some of the identified challenges encountered by pork producers.

The training targeted forty pig butchers and farmers as well as funded by Livestock Horticulture Development Project through IFAD, under the Ministry of Agriculture.

In presenting the certificates to the participants, director of technical and field service at the GLMA Ebrima Cham expressed appreciation and thanks to the participants for their level of participation in “this very important training forum”.

He then described the training as very interactive and participatory during the whole process. He also used the occasion to hail the Management of Livestock Horticulture Development Project under the coordination of Lamin Sanyang.

He further told participants: “This training will greatly yield dividend in strengthening your capacity on the handling of meat. This certificate is sort of motivation and encouragement in the dedication of your work.”

For his part, Ousman Jarju, an horticulture experts at LHDP, expressed similar sentiments and hailed the organizers for coordinating “this very important training, which is all geared towards improving” their capacity, to create better understanding of specific disease lessons found in pork. Pictures of such alterations have been transposed from other resource materials into the training.

He also challenged the participants to put the knowledge gained from the training into good use, while assuring the GLMA that the LHDP will continue to collaborate with them for the best interest of the farmers.

Also speaking at the forum, the director general of the GLMA, Dr Demba Jallow, spoke at length on the importance attached to the training, saying: “This is the first of its kind in the anal of the GLMA.” He also thanked the LHDP and IFAD for funding the training.

He said further: “At the end of this training, the participants will be able to adopt and demonstrate best practices in butchery, adopt the principles of meat hygiene and handling, and in addition, share the knowledge and skills acquired from the three days of training with peers, in order to create a multiplier effect, with the ultimate goal of increasing the protein requirement of the people, through the production and consumption of high quality and wholesome pork.”