A delegation of 22 Danish pig-breeding specialists arrived Vietnam on March 27 and April 2 to set up cooperation with local pig raisers and seek opportunities to export high-quality pigs to the Southeast Asian country. The delegation, led by DanBred pig breeding association that comprises of Denmark’s pig producers and researchers, visited some of pig farms in Vietnam, mainly in Hanoi and HCM City.
Nicolaj H. Norgaard, CEO of the Pig Research Center under the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, a member of the delegation, said pig productivity in Denmark is high while Vietnam has a fast-emerging husbandry sector, so enterprises from the two countries can promote cooperation in this sector.
“We have herd productivity level of closely 30 pigs per sow per year in Denmark. Something is to do with genetics, something is to do with management and know-how to run a pig farm. So I think I see opportunities to sell high quality breeding pigs to Vietnamese farmers, and to train managers of the farms who will come to Denmark to learn how to take care of Danbred pigs,” he said. DanBred International, an export unit of the association, set up a representative office in Vietnam in 2001 to provide breeding pigs from Denmark to Vietnam. However, Dao Dang Trinh, director of Environment Professional Services, representing DanBred International in Vietnam, said Vietnamese farmers have only known more about the DanBred pigs since two years ago, with several hundreds of DanBred pigs sold in Vietnam annually. Denmark is producing about 25 million pigs per annum and exported $5 billion worth of pork to many countries in 2009. The number of pig producers in Denmark has reduced from nearly 80,000 in 1975 to nearly 4,700 in 2009, but the output is maintained owing to high quality breeding pigs and good management. (Saigon Giai phong – Saigon Liberation Apr 4)
