Pig Production in Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, and Vietnam: A Review

In the last two decades, Asia has become the world’s fastest economically growing area. Countries in Southeast Asia are growing at an increasing rate. For instance, the average annual income is increasing from 4% to 8%, population from 2% to 3%, urbanization from 4% to 6%, and meat consumption from 4% to 8%. In this region, pork is the most important source of meat, accounting for approximately 58% of total meat output. However, pig production in the region is small in scale with more than 70% being smallholders. Regional and national goals to reach the international market threaten traditional pig production due to its perceived low standard of output. Alongside, natural resources are under high pressure from heavy pollution emanating from pig production. Industrialization has caused the migration of the pig population from rural areas to the outskirts of big cities like Manila, Ho Chi Minh, and Siemriep, or Phnom Penh. Industrialization has also resulted in air, soil, and water pollution in these cities. In addition, the region shares a huge area of the South China Sea and by intensive pig keeping, surplus nutrients and minerals flow into that sea. This paper aims to: 1) provide an overview of the current pig production situation in certain selected ASEAN countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, and Vietnam; 2) analyze how these changes may occur over the coming years and how it will affect the livelihoods of different types of pig farmers (large, medium, small); 3) identify some of the constraints that will need to be overcome (e.g., environmental impact, disease challenge, breed loss, effect of globalization, marginalization of small farmers, climate change issues); and 4) to pinpoint certain guidelines for drawing up a regional strategy on pig production.