Pig breeder ‘bringing home the bacon'
Pig breeder ‘bringing home the bacon'
Many Lao pig farmers are facing bankruptcy hampered by the high cost of capital for investment as well as a lack of technical breeding expertise.
Despite farmers having sufficient land to breed pigs they have limited funding to buy piglets, animal feed and vaccines to successfully operate their businesses.
Some farmers are generating enough income for their families but are struggling with high interest rates charged for loans from the banks and competition from overseas pork producers.
One successful pig breeder who is bucking the negative trend in Pakngum district, Vientiane province, Mr Cheu-va Saytong, told Vientiane Times during a visit to his farm last week that his family earns around 300 million kip income a year from breeding pigs.
He started with just 50 pigs in 2007 but has now expanded to breed 1,800 pigs, and employs his cousin, uncle and son's families in the care of the pigs.
Charoen Pokphand (CP) Lao Company has provided piglets, feed, technical advice, vaccines and marketing know-how, while Mr Cheu-va Saytong has supplied the labour and facilities for pig breeding.
He initially borrowed 500 million kip from the bank to establish the farm for development and he managed to repay the entire loan by 2011.
He said he put the success of his pig farm down to paying close attention to breeding techniques especially having clean pigsties, providing good quality feed and vaccinations as well as trying to seek traditional treatments when pigs got sick from seasonal disease and outbreaks.
His farm currently has one pig shed that comprises eight pigsties with 400 breeding pigs inside. In this ‘standard house' he has invested around 300 million kip in capital buying equipment and installing new systems.
The innovations include a water vapour system and closing off the standard house from the rest of the farm but with flow through ventilation. This enables the management of the temperature inside and prevents disease from the outside. This model facility is the first and only one thus far of his six houses, and he plans to eventually convert the other five.
Pigs bred in the standard shed grow larger and are better quality compared to those of the same age raised by the normal methods.
For normal pigs sold he receives 900 kip per kg from the company while for those from the standard shed the price is 1,300 kip per kg. For these better quality pigs he has also been able to sell large job lots to the company and received around 100 million kip over four months.
He would like to install more standard pigsty systems providing he can reinvest enough money from the business or there are good lending policies from the banks to help.
Many pig breeders in the district are still struggling to generate sufficient profits from their businesses with a lack of new breeding techniques and providing correct feeding as part of the problem.
vientiane times
