THE Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development through Sarawak Veterinary Services Department (JPVS) is negotiating with Kalimantan, Indonesia and Penang to establish export protocols for live pigs.
Deputy Minister of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Datuk Martin Ben said this is in addition to exporting live pigs to Singapore and Selangor.
“By 2030, Sarawak is projected to produce 860,000 pigs annually, valued at RM1.5 billion, with export earnings amounting to RM723 million,” he said in reply to Serembu assemblyman Datuk Miro Simuh during the DUN Sitting here today.
Martin, who is also Kedup assemblyman, said JPVS will also expand the market by encouraging the production of value-added and downstream pig-based products.
In addition, he said JPVS is promoting the concept of the Modern Pig Farm (MPF), which will be driven by the private sector with continuous monitoring from the department and other relevant agencies.
“Monitoring activities are still ongoing, and investigations into reported cases are continuing. For small-scale owners (backyard farmers), JPVS will continue and expand existing farm biosecurity awareness campaigns,” he said.
On efforts to curb the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF), he said JPVS has taken and will continue to take several measures. These include giving continuous awareness briefings to industry players, preventing the entry of pig-based food from unauthorised sources, and banning the import of pig products from ASF-affected countries.
JPVS also monitors treated pork products to ensure they meet import conditions, enforces bans on the movement of animals and animal products without approval, and prohibits uninspected slaughtering outside registered abattoirs.
In addition, JPVS carries out monitoring, seizes illegal products, issues compounds under the Veterinary Public Health Ordinance 1999, and provides advice to ASF-affected farmers who plan to restock, especially on improving farm biosecurity to prevent future infections.
