Cambodian company to breed one million pigs yearly by 2015

Cambodia's Mong Reththy Group (MRG) announced that it will breed one million pigs yearly by 2015 to boost local production and cut dependence on foreign sources.

 

The project is part of a US$5 million plan announced last year along with its plan to import 600 Yorkshire breeding pigs from a farm in northern England.

 

MRG said the first shipment of 150 pigs arrived in Phnom Penh in mid-December and are expected to provide the foundation of a new programme to expand local pig farming.

 

MRG CEO and President Mong Reththy said he is preparing to distribute the first generation of breeder piglets in the coming weeks.

 

Reththy said the company has also expanded facilities to house the breeders on 20 hectares of land on the border of Koh Kong and Sihanouk provinces.

 

Man Bunneang, a pig farmer in Kampong Speu province, said the new Yorkshire piglets could improve the sector for farmers who have struggled to cope with rising demand and volatile prices.

 

Bunneang said local producers can only supply about 40 percent of market demand at the moment.

 

MRG said the plan to grow more pigs at home could turn Cambodia from a pig importer to a pig exporter.

 

Animal Health and Production Department at the Ministry of Agriculture director Kao Phal said the introduction of the breeders, which will reach maturity more rapidly than local types, would also boost incomes of animal feed growers.

 

Phal said that corn, cassava and soy farmers could benefit most from local pig production.

 

MRG earlier announced a US$4 million state-of-the-art slaughterhouse and processing facility that meets international sanitary standards.

 

The facilities will be equipped with imported German machinery and are slated to open this year.