KUCHING: Singapore is keen to import pork from the centralised pig farming area in Pasir Puteh, Simunjan.
Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) controller Peter Sawal said an official delegation from Singapore inspected the centralised farm in February, conducting assessment and auditing for certification purposes.
“Singapore is keen to make the centralised farming area in Simunjan as its main producer and supplier of pork.
“The interest from Singapore is a great encouragement for the local farmers to breed pigs and produce pork there, not just for local consumption but also for the international market,” he told The Borneo Post.
Peter said Singapore is keen to import pork from the region as it is free of the Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus.
He said piglets for rearing would also be produced at the centralised farm, adding that the brood stock was imported from Europe. Peter said the 2,000-acre farm, which is about 120km from here, costs RM163 million and is currently the biggest such facility in Sarawak.
It is equipped with a biogas waste treatment plant, which if fully operational would be able to produce between three and five megawatts of methane-powered electricity. The whole farming area could accommodate a standing pig population of 250,000.
“Pigs are high waste producers. One pig produces about five times more excrement than a human being does. So the biogas may be sufficient for internal use,” he said. The establishment of the centralised pig farming area is for the purpose of relocating existing pig farms in Kuching and Samarahan divisions for better control of environmental pollution associated with the industry.
It is a fully integrated complex covering the entire value-chain and is designed for zero waste discharge aside from eliminating unpleasant smells.
The facilities and management systems are designed to comply with national and international standards with modern pig farms, feed mills, abattoir and meat processing plants.