September 29, 2009

Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group plans to develop three integrated poultry layer farms in selected villages in China.

The group may apply its agricultural village management model, especially that of Nong Wah village in Thailand.

In the Nong Wah project, initiated 30 years ago, each villager was allocated 24 rai, a house, pig breeders and proper facilities to raise pigs with guidance from the company, while the Bangkok Bank helped train the villagers in effective finance management.

Now, the villagers in Nong Wah were able to repay debts and run the village on their own under the Nong Wah Agricultural Village Company.

CP Group chairman Dhanin Chearavanont said the group planned to raise about three million layers in each integrated egg-laying farm. Each site would also have a chicken feed production plant and a processing plant for higher value egg-based products for the food industry. Chicken manure would be used as fertiliser.

Other necessary facilities will include conveyors to load eggs from farms to processing units to avoid human handling of the products, he said.

Dhanin said the group has no plan for further investments in poultry operations in Thailand because excessive investments would create an oversupply and bring down egg prices, which would affect farmers.

China, however, has great business potential due to its 1.3 billion population, he said.

Dhanin also encouraged Thai livestock companies to expand investment abroad to tap into growing meat demand.