Pingwu Livestock Development Project
Location: Baima, Muzuo and Daquiao Townships, Pingwu County, Sichuan Province
No. of Recipients households: 110
No. of animals given: 600 pigs
No. of pass-on families: 180 families
Pingwu is a mountainous county and is nationally designated as a county of poverty. There are 25 Townships with a total population of 186,000, of which six are Tibetan and three are Qiang townships. The per capita net annual income of Pingwu is RMB2160 , and 9.6% of the total population lives with an annual net income less than RMB1000.
The agricultural GDP of Pingwu in 2004 was 575 million yuan, of which 199 million came directly from livestock production. Livestock keeping has been one of the backbone industries in the whole county, but the local people lack the knowledge and skills on it. The traditional way of livestock keeping produces very low income, and animals live in terribly dirty and harsh barns. Houses in the poor villages are also very poorly constructed and many of them need repair and even reconstruction. Furthermore, a large amount of the natural grassland has not been fully utilized and local people in Pingwu cut trees for firewood, which is the major source of fuel for rural households. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an alternative source of energy to help reduce slash and burn practices.
In this project, Heifer provides 5 pigs to each of 120 impoverished families in poor communities in Pingwu County. Heifer also financially supports the beneficiary families to build pig barns, bio-gas generators and renovate their kitchens and toilets. The project farmers receives training on pig barn construction, pig feeding and management, disease control and grass planting, as well as bio-gas generation and personal hygiene.
