Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Ban on pork imports creates windfall for Cambodian pig farmers

September 19, 2007

Cambodian farmers are dusting off their pig pens as local pig and pork prices have skyrocketed in the month following Prime Minister Hun Sen's ban on the imports of pigs and pork meat from foreign countries, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported Wednesday.

Pig farmers welcome the new import ban as a boon to business and people's health, Srun Pov, first deputy president for the Cambodian Pig Raisers Association, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The selling price of live pigs had already risen to a high of 7, 500 (about 1.8 U.S. dollars) riel per kilo by early September from a low of 3,800 (about 0.9 U.S. dollars) riel in early August, he said.

"Farmers are starting to raise pigs again after 90 percent of them had closed their pig farms," he added.

Sam Bona, a U.S. Agency for International Development value chain coordinator who advises farmers in several provinces, said that farmers in Kompong Speu, Kandal, Prey Veng, and Kompong Cham provinces have begun to open small-to-medium scale pig farms of up to 500 pigs in the wake of the ban.

Other farmers are benefiting as well, such as those who grow corn and cassava for pig feed, he added.

The ban, which government officials said was issued in response to livestock disease abroad as well as the need to protect and develop the local pig farming industry, was issued on August 13.

Source: Xinhua

No comments: