Govt mulls further funding for private pig farm
Govt mulls further funding for private pig farm
The government is assessing whether to allocate additional funding to the privately-owned Union Development Agriculture Farm (UDA Farm) to enable it to expand operations.
Deputy Prime Minister Dr Sonexay Siphandone said the matter was under consideration when he visited the farm in Mai village, Phonhong district, Vientiane province, last wee k.
The UDA Farm was established in 2010 wit h 8 billion kip in capital borrowed from the Agriculture Promotion Bank at a 15 percent interest rate per annum. The Lao owners used the money to set up a pig breeding farm with 415 pigs.
They borrowed another 16 billion kip from the bank at the same interest rate in 2011-12, when they bought another 800 pigs, which produced more than 2,000 piglets monthly.
In 2012-13 the bank again released 80 billion kip to the farm at a 7 percent interest rate, which the farm was required to repay within five years.
With 4,080 pigs in total, this year the farm was able to produce about 8,000 piglets a month on average.
The farm now owes the bank 67.5 billion kip, all of which must be repaid by 2017-18.
The owners hope to obtain another 6,000 pigs in the near future to bring their stock up to 10,000, which would produce 20,000 piglets a month.
Co-presidents of the farm, Mr Nitsavanh Luangkhot-pravongviengkham and Ms Nuanchanh Sipaseth, also plan to establish a factory to produce livestock feed and have asked the government to authorise a large loan for the project.
Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay said he appreciated the enthusiasm of the business owners, who he said had grown the farm so that it is now the largest pig farm in the country and the main supplier of meat to the capital and to Vientiane and Luang Prabang provinces.
He said the government would discuss the owners' request for another loan, noting that the farm was already able to stand on its own legs.
He explained that the government did not have much money to spare and wanted to allocate money to other businesses. Their preference was to provide funding for small and medium d enterprises, as these would have strong potential for competing within the Asean Co mmunity.
During his meeting with the farm owners, along with other government officials, Dr Sonexay reminded them about investors who had violated the rules by not repaying their debts on time.
Another problem, Dr Sonexay said, was that some investors had used the money they borrowed for purposes other than which it was intended.
