Pork, plastic wrapped and neatly packed on the supermarket shelf, seems divorced from its origin and denies the tragedy that daily befalls Miss Piggy's clan. However, in Taiwan's markets, life is more stark, and the ROC housewife, for the sake of procuring the freshest meat, faces the reality of the pigs' fate early each morning. This obviously acts as no deterrent whatever to the pork consumers of Taiwan, where the swine raising industry has risen to an economic position second only to the staple - rice. Now, in fact, it accounts for over 20 percent of the island's agricultural budget, reflecting the remarkable increase in protein content in the local diet, of which pork supplies the major share.
An industry of this size has a vital need for research and development of the highest caliber, and, of the various institutions involved in this work, the Pig Research Institute, Taiwan (PRIT) is the most influential on the island. The Institute, since its establishment 12 years ago by a United Nations Special Projects Fund, has specifically researched the problems of swine production and product marketing. In this time, it has grown to be a center for pig research in world scientific circles and assumed the role of being the ultimate reference for Taiwan’s farmers and veterinarians seeking information related to pig production.
The Institute, despite the withdrawal of UN support in the formative years, has remained faithful in philosophy to its original charter in becoming a principal Asian center for exchange of pig production technology by international scien¬tists in the field. To this end, many overseas research workers have participated in projects and seminars at the Institute and Chinese staff have travelled to all parts of the world on teaching and study missions. This diversity of experience among the staff at PRIT makes it a stimulating place for research and study.
The center, located at Chu Nan, about 90 minutes from Taipei, is under the direction of Dr. Wu Fu-ming, who is also a professor specializing in reproductive pathology at Chung Hsing University. Dr. Wu participated in research for ten years at the institute before taking over its top spot. For our tour, we were taken in hand by Mr. Hsia, who gave us an extensive introduction to the work, people and animals of the Institute.
Mr. Hsia first took us to meet the stars of the show - the pigs. PRIT has a complex administrative structure. Being orphaned at an early stage by the UN withdrawal, it became foster child to a group of parent bodies, namely, the Council for Agricultural Production and Development, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC). The pigs were located, therefore, at the adjacent TSC Experimental Production and Breeding Farm.
Mr. Hsia, who recently returned from study in Edinburgh, specializes in behavioral research and feed efficiency studies. The latter is a focus of attention for all research at PRIT. Taiwan's population has now surpassed the 17 million mark and, with two-thirds of the mountainous island uncultivable, it is dependent upon massive grain imports, mainly from the U.S.A., Canada and Thailand. The grain bill in 1981 topped NT$44 billion (about US$1.1 billion), 60 percent of which it is estimated was consumed by the pig industry. Thus, the emphasis on feed efficiency, more than contributing to a direct cost reduction for the industry, can have a positive impact on the nation's trade balance.
Mr. Hsia explained the various feed efficiency research projects. There were pigs in individual pens enjoying air conditioned quarters, their diet carefully controlled in quantity, texture and composition to reveal an optimum ration for efficient, rapid growth. Seeing these animals reminded me of a Chinese ecology professor who was always posing the question of who serves who, the animal the man, or vice versa. For Mr. Hsia at least, it was evident that he had no misconceptions about the nature of his cooperative role in the lives of pig and man. His delight was obvious when he was instinctively drawn to pat a large sow playing with an automatic drinking nozzle; in turn, the sow rewarded him for his attention with some affectionate grunts in his ear as it lumbered up to stand with its forelegs on the upper railing of its pen. It crossed my mind that the study of animal behavior had become a mutual process. The more important aspects of behavioral studies are also linked to feed efficiency in questions of suckling order in piglets, feeding times and methods, etc.
"Poke in a pig"- The plug in the pig's side enables scientists to quickly check stomach contents
More dramatic to the layman is the catheter surgically inserted through the side of a pig into the stomach so that digestion samples can be taken for analysis. Externally it is seen as a 10 cm. long plug on the flank. By removing the plug - a bizarre procedure reminiscent of a Cocteau movie, via a tube fixed into the stomach-the removal of gastric fluids can be undertaken.
The majority of research staff work is within the modern laboratory complex. At the artificial insemination research laboratory we met Dr. Cheng, who in the broken English typical of a German national apologized that he had learned his English there. With a few bawdy jokes of Continental flavor, he introduced us to his work. By means of video and microscope and complex staining techniques, he and his assistants maintain visual records of sperm quality as a means of developing breeding progress. The sperm can be observed directly, frantically squiggling across the TV screen. Their morphological form and activity are indications of sperm quality.
Pathology, the largest department of the Institute, is under the guidance of Dr. Redman Chu, a dedicated research scientist who has come somewhat reluctantly to this position of responsibility. The intrusion of administration' and teaching duties in his own research work frustrates him. He talks of his work on the "Gut Immune System" with an animation and intense interest that captivates even the baffled layman. The directors of the Institute have plans to develop a genetics lab which will temporarily extend his area of operation even further. After several years in the United States, Dr. Chu finds his work in Taiwan immensely satisfying, in that he is aware of the opportunity to make an essential contribution to scientific development in his own country. Though he shies away from any claims of achievements, having built up this department, he has a yard stick by which to assess this contribution. It is clear that he is representative of the recent ebb and turn in the tide of the so called "brain drain," in which many highly trained Chinese professionals have begun returning from a culturally unsatisfying life abroad to settle in Taiwan.
In the microbiology department, we met Miss Chueh, who in cooperation with Dr. Chu and others, recently made a very significant contribution to the development of disease control programs by the identification of virus – rotavirus - which causes gastric disorder in pigs. Her concern, in discussing her work relative to the specimen piglets' plight, shows her gentle nature. In contrast is Dr. Allen Yang's more practical approach to his work on carcass confirmation. This requires measurement of fat layer thickness by sonic equipment and even necropsy, as a more precise means of carcass measurement. He is developing a leaner, more meaty pig with what the Chinese describe as a shapely shrimp's waist. Dr. Yang studied for many years in Australia where he learned to love the peculiar game of Australian Rule football.
Nearby the PRIT laboratories is a large complex of the most modern of pig houses. These are newly completed for the "national herd," which will be built up as high grade breeders to supply the needs of Taiwan's breeder farms and commercial production farms. An important aspect of the herd is that it will make unnecessary the present import of breeding pigs. Scientists consider every imported pig a disease risk, as they can introduce diseases exotic to Taiwan. The PRIT staff consider the herd one of the most significant recent developments in the industry. They contend that via the means of artificial insemination, quite adequate new genetic material is available for herd improvement at lesser cost and minimal disease risk. If their views are heard, controls may become so stringent that even Miss Piggy would have trouble gaining entry to Taiwan. Whatever the developments, it is clear that PRIT will have an essential role in the future of the industry.