Pig breeder clinches £1m Cambodia deal

By Mark Casci

AT a time when the welfare standards of Britain's pig farms are being discussed at the highest level, a batch of top quality breeding pigs are being dispatched to the Far East.

Yorkshire-based international pig breeding company ACMC has clinched what is thought to be the first ever deal to ship them to Cambodia.

Worth nearly £1m, the deal will see ACMC's special Meidam and Voltane damlines and Vantage sirelines, plus boars representing all three breeds being sent to the South East Asian country.

The deal has been struck by the Cambodian government as it strives to cope with its expanding population, which is expected to grow from its present 13 million to 16 million by 2015.

The country at present imports 2,000 pigs a day – mostly from neighbouring Thailand.

The news comes at a time when Britain's pig farming industry is striving to reduce the amount of cheap pork entering the country, and to emphasise the high quality of the methods of which pork is reared domestically.

TV chef Jamie Oliver will present a documentary on Thursday this week on the issue, Jamie Saves Our Bacon, during which he spoke to several Yorkshire farmers and butchers.

The project involves the pigs being sent to a new specially designed five-hectare site in the Prey Nop district of Sihanoukville city in the west of the country. The site will house the nuclear herd and which is expected to eventually supply enough commercial AC1 sows to produce 1.1 million slaughter pigs a year. It is also anticipated to provide employment for thousands of people in rural Cambodia.

A spokesman said: "Interestingly, Cambodia will be importing genes, albeit much modified, originally sourced from the Far East.

"More than two decades ago the prolific Chinese Meishan was brought into Europe. Over a 20-year period ACMC used these genetics to create a new breed, the Meidam, to boost productivity. The Meidam is selected with 16 functioning teats and produces 15 per cent more milk than conventional European lines, enabling it to rear more pigs. In Europe, the AC1 has been shown to produce up to 30 pigs per sow."

The spokesman added that ACMC believes it is the only company that has managed to incorporate this ability while maintaining high quality lean carcasses in the finishing generation – and this is what appealed to the Cambodians

A new company has been formed to handle the operation under the name of M's Pig ACMC (Cambodia) Ltd.

The project will also encompass a feed-milling operation with a projected output of 330,000 tonnes a year and a slaughter and processing plant to produce premium quality pork.