April 25, 2011
 

Brazil invests in pork output in Bahia

Unhappy with being the global fourth-largest exporter of pork, Brazil will put in more money to develop more demand for the meat locally, especially in the northeastern state of Bahia, where officials will promote swine farming via incentives and teach consumers on pork's different cuts, an industry group said.

More than BRL1 million (US$638.2 million) in investment has already been secured by a new National Project for the Development of Swine (known as PNDS), which will invest those funds toward market growth in the state of Bahia, where about 75% of pork meat consumed is raised in other parts of Brazil. The industry would like the state to carve a niche for itself in the Brazilian pork market.

Along with building the swine industry in Bahia, funding will go toward marketing efforts to refresh the image of pork for Brazilians. Many consumers there hold a lower opinion of pork than other meats, due to lingering memories of past health scares that stemmed from poor swine sanitation, PNDS said. The ultimate goal of the project, as it spreads to more states, is to boost pork consumption per Brazilian to 15kg by 2013 from 11kg now.

President Dilma Rousseff also recently signed an accord with China to boost exports of Brazilian pork to China, which offers another reason to invest in the industry.

Sebrae, a national small business incubator in Brazil that also provides job training courses, is supporting the Bahia swine development project through its Agribusiness Unit. The biggest challenge to reindustrialising the Bahian pork business may be imparting the high standards of professionalism necessary today for swine breeders and butchers, said Sebrae spokeswoman Celia Fernandes.

Supplying Brazil's growing economy with a properly trained workforce has been a challenge throughout the country, due to its infamously poor public schools. Nowhere are the faults of poor public education more pronounced for Brazilian business than in northeastern states, which are considered as the poorest and least developed, both socially and economically.