May 28, 2007

Thailand agriculture ministry hastens measures to increase Thai swine prices

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) in Thailand is speeding up measures to pump prices of swine which is now hitting below production cost.

MOAC minister Thira Sutabutr said the expedition of measures was prompted by the complaints from a group of individual swine farmers, complaining about the decreasing prices of swine. The present average price of swine is around 36 baht (US$1.10) to 38 baht per kilogramme (US$1.16).

The minister has instructed the Livestock Development Department to control swine production, reduce baby swine and swine breeds, control of swine transport, and regulate swine entrails import as part of the measure.

Thira says the methods will be submitted to the Pig Board for consideration before the Livestock Development Department implements them.

Apart from raising pig prices, the ministry also set forth plans to use the budget allocated by the committee responsible for providing assistance to farmers to buy baby pigs for the production of barbecued suckling pigs. Sutabutr expects that the budget will help decrease the country's baby pig population by 200,000. He adds that the ministry will also accelerate the registration of pig farms nationwide.