KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak aims to more than double its annual pig production from 350,000 animals in 2025 to 860,000 by 2030, targeting RM1 billion in exports in 2030, with Singapore among its key markets.
The move would position Sarawak as the country’s main pork-producing hub at a time when disease outbreaks and land constraints are reshaping the industry in other states.
Sarawak’s Minister for Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Stephen Rundi Utom said the state’s demographic composition has supported the growth of the pig-rearing industry, which operates away from residential areas using modern methods and strict hygiene standards.
“We have adopted better technology after visits to Denmark, China and Japan to learn best practices, particularly in pig farming,” he told Singapore’s Straits Times.
Trade in live pigs between Malaysia and Singapore was halted in 1999 following the 1998 Nipah virus outbreak, which devastated pig farms in the peninsula, killing 105 people and forcing the culling of more than one million pigs.
In March the following year, an outbreak among abattoir workers in Singapore who handled live pigs imported from Malaysia resulted in 11 reported cases of human transmission and the death of one worker in the republic.
Singapore resumed live pig imports in November 2017 exclusively from Sarawak, after bilateral trade was halted in 1999. Since then, Sarawak has shipped more than 675,000 animals worth RM742.5 million to the republic.
Utom added that Sarawak successfully contained an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in 2022 and has since eradicated foot-and-mouth disease, boosting confidence in its systems.
Sarawak’s expansion plans come as other states scale back pig farming due to environmental and land-use concerns.
On Feb 10, the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, said he would not consent to pig-rearing activities in any district in the state due to pollution concerns and limited land resources, following an audience with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Two days later, the Selangor government announced it would stop issuing new pig-farming licences and aims to close all existing breeding farms in the state as soon as possible.
Last week, the Department of Veterinary Services allowed the import of pork from Thailand and Brazil to meet domestic demand.
Singapore has long been a pork importer, having made the decision to phase out pig farms in 1984, due to land and water polution, as well as the need for housing land.
Pig farming in the republic was phased out in 1989.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
