Taipei Times
Date: Jan 19, 2019
By: Chiu Chih-jou and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Black pigs raised on food waste are pictured at a farm in Pingtung County on Wednesday.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times

Farmers who raise black pigs in Pingtung County have formed a self-help group as fears about the effects of African swine fever have resulted in sales coming to a standstill and increased scrutiny of farms that use food waste as feed.

Unlike their lighter-skinned counterparts, black pigs are raised in two stages, Pingtung hog farmers said on Wednesday.

Upstream farmers raise sows and piglets, then one to two months after the piglets have stopped nursing, they are sent to downstream farmers, who raise them until they are mature, they said.

This partnership between upstream and downstream farmers has existed for more than a decade, but since the government started subsidizing farmers who switch from using food waste as pig feed or give up farming altogether, downstream farmers have stopped placing orders, said Chiu Hsiu-chin (邱秀琴), a black pig farmer in Pingtung.    [FULL  STORY]