Some farmers who raise black pigs in Pingtung County have cut their supply by 20 percent, or stopped producing them entirely, due to repercussions of the government’s efforts to keep African swine fever out of the nation.
To lower the risk of spreading the disease, agricultural authorities have enforced stricter laws demanding that pig farmers who use food waste as feed switch to commercial feed, said Tseng Jen-te (曾仁德), a member of the only pig-farming cooperative in the county that raises only black sows for breeding.
About 12 percent of domestically raised pigs are fed food waste, and most are black pigs, Council of Agriculture data showed.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
The cooperative, formed by 62 hog farmers, produces an average of 120,000 to 150,000 black piglets per year, and has a 20 percent share of the nation’s black pig market.
Since swine fever prevention measures came into effect last year, the number of black sows raised by the cooperative has dropped from more than 10,000 to between 7,000 and 8,000, he said.
For hog farmers — mostly small-scale farmers — who found it hard to stop using food waste as feed for economic reasons, the government required that they purchase equipment to heat and sterilize the food scraps before feeding them to the pigs, but some could not afford to do so, Tseng said.
Many old farmers decided to exit the industry for good at this juncture, Tseng said.
Demand for the meat of black pigs has long exceeded supply, making the decreased production a problem, he added.
Most of Pingtung’s black pig farmers make a profit from breeding piglets, and while they often work alone, a potential solution could be forming alliances to build a complete black pig industry chain to sustain them, he said.
Pork from the county’s Liouduei region (六堆) comes from special breeds and has a unique and tasty flavor, he said.
These pigs have been bred by generations of local hog farmers and could be the strongest candidate to represent Taiwan in the international pork market, he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a promotion event for Liouduei black pork last week, Hakka Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chung Kung-shao (鍾孔炤) said that the council would work with local hog farmers to stabilize the industry.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese