NPUST and Denmark’s Dalum Academy of Agricultural Business have recently been cooperating on a project that aims to train personnel and improve inefficiencies in Taiwan’s highly valuable pork industry. The initiative was organized based on the Ministry of Education “Pilot Project for International Technical Personnel Training Institutions”, which was launched last year.
As part of the bilateral exchange and training activities, in January and February of this year (2019), a total of six NPUST faculty members and 14 students travelled to Denmark to take part in one-month and four-month training courses on pig rearing and management. In addition to the professional knowledge they acquired, the participants accumulated a considerable amount of practical experience at pig rearing facilities in Demark.
During the summer break, program host Maria F. Graff and a pig rearing expert Carsten Friis Poulsen from Denmark were invited to the university to instruct courses on “fundamental personnel training for pig rearing” and “managerial personnel training for pig rearing” for students ranging from high-school to PhD levels of education.
A press conference was held on August 8th at the university, during which NPUST President Chang-Hsien Tai pointed out that Denmark, which has a land area similar that of Taiwan and a population of 56 million, is able to raise 3 million pigs. Taiwan’s population of 23 million people is a little less than half of Denmark’s, however, the amount of pigs the island is raising is about 1/5 of what they are capable of, at around 560,000. Tai expressed his hopes that Taiwan would be able to learn from Denmark’s methods in breading, feeding, facility design, waste product management and other practices, while also making appropriate adjustments for the differences in climate. He also expressed hopes that through the international cooperation and the talent cultivation taking place at NPUST, the pig industry in Taiwan would be able to experience significant positive growth.
Maria F. Graff shared her appreciation for the fact that when the 14 outstanding students from NPUST were visiting Denmark for the exchange, they performed very well in a variety of inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural learning activities –and also put their learning to real-world practice in pig rearing facilities where they won the praise of the owners and operators alike. Pig specialist Carsten Friis Poulsen encouraged students to not simply mimic the things that they have learned, but to go further and develop suitable models and strategies to help Taiwan’s pig industry to experience growth, while also pursuing ideas of sustainable development.
Overall, pig related industries in Taiwan have an annual output value of around 160 billion NTD— constituting around a third of the overall agriculture industry in the country. However, Taiwan’s hot and humid weather affects breeding efficiency, and the close proximity of pig farms makes it easier for communicable diseases to spread. As a consequence, overall productivity is currently not as ideal as one would hope.
In order to solve some of these problems, NPUST sent teachers and students to Denmark, with support from the government, to take part in training courses mentioned above. During summer break, special courses were also held at NPUST to bring some of the knowledge to those who did not get the chance to visit Denmark.
Two training courses were offered. One of which was a fundamentals level course oriented towards vocational high school students, with 72 in attendance. The other was a managerial training course that attracted PhD, master’s and undergraduate students from NPUST as well as undergrads from other universities and also industry personnel— for a total of 89 participants. The courses were taught by the two visitors from Denmark, 13 teachers from the NPUST and 19 professionals from the industry.
In addition to the training program, NPUST plans to use school funds and Denmark’s design technology to create a ‘smart technology’ pig house that meets European standards as well the needs of tropical and sub-tropical climates.