New qualities, new trends in pig farming and pork production

Pork production is continuously increasing throughout the world. At present, the rate of development is lowest in South-East Asia and South America. In the European Union the pig stock is moderately decreasing, whereas the indexes of quality and production exhibit an improving trend. At the same time, the former socialist countries experience difficulties resulting from the systemic change also in the field of pig breeding. As for Hungary, its pig stock has decreased by 50 percent, and a significant decay of quality has taken place also in the processof production. Thus, the country has lost its competitiveness as compared with advanced countries. At present, the pig stock only covers domestic demand at a low level of consumption. Both pork and pork products obtained from Hungarian pigs are too fatty and do not meet the demands of a particular goodwill. In consequence of the defects of pig keeping and partly of the unfavourable veterinary situation deriving from it, the Hungarian pig stock produces at a level 20-30 percent lower than its genetic potential. The primary cost of pork production is scarcely better than in the countries of Western Europe. In the present situation, Hungary's entry into the European Union would mean that, along with its calculable and incalculable consequences, the pork surplus produced in EU countries would appear on the domestic market as a competitive factor. Management, development, education and research have a lot to do in order to achieve and preserve competitiveness. The major problem is not the decreased pig stock but rather the lack of quality in the processes of production, and the circumstance that the quality of the products is not adjusted to the requirements of the market in advanced countries. A change in this situation requires to concentrate every effort (both material and intellectual) on the improvement of quality. It is the environment of production that must be modernized in the first place. The most up-to-date technologies must be introduced by means of new investments, resulting in a technological determination of "quality" in the process of production, and in the products themselves. However, technological development only returns if there is a sound stock in production, wherefore both technological and veterinary changes are justified. A reliable guaranteed good quality of feedstuffs is very important. Since pig farming is low-profit sector, its development, as well as the escape from difficulties, can only be financed from state funds. problems in quantity and quality cannot be overcome without a vertical integration where production, processing and marketing meet in a common sphere of interest. This is the clue of development. The government must make further efforts in order to adjust education, production and product quality to an international level of demand by means if wise supporting policies, laws and regulations