For the longest distance they had to cover so far — 180km – it took a drone 45 minutes to deliver pig semen to destination. Farmers purchasing semen from Muhanga District where the drone station is situated previously had to wait for a good three hours to receive their orders as they were being transported in public or private cars. Simon Muhire, a pig farmer in Muhanga district, says the drone delivery programme has helped them cut costs.

“We no longer incur much in transportation costs as time has shortened. Also, at the moment, we are not incurring the cost of keeping the boar, which is expensive and can cause a risk for us as farmers as it might contract a disease [and spread it as it mates many sows],” he says.

Fabrice Ndayisenga, Head of Animal Resource Research and Technology Transfer Department at Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), says the pig semen being delivered to farmers is from pure pig breeds imported from Europe. RAB targets having many more farmers getting such breeds for the genetic improvement of their animals. The pure breeds include Large White, Landrace, Pietrain and Duroc.

“Farmers had difficulties accessing the needed semen before, but now, it’s much easier and it costs less to get the services on time,” says Jean Claude Shirimpumu, the chairperson of the Rwanda Pig Farmers Association. “This initiative saves the cost for the farmer because raising a boar is expensive as feeding it is costly yet they only need it for mating purposes when the sow is on heat,” he concluded.