By Charles Bourns, broiler grower, Gloucestershire
I am now back from my travels to Singapore, where I went to visit my sister-in-law, who travelled from her home in Australia, and it seems I missed a very vibrant Pig and Poultry Fair with everyone in optimistic mood. This would sum up Singapore. Although I found the weather a bit difficult to cope with – 31 degrees with 80% humidity – it was great to be in a country where they plan 40 to 50 years ahead.
My neighbour here is an engineer and happens to be involved in the building of a metro in Singapore, which will lead to a new terminal at the airport. The soil from the tunnel will be used to make more land and they are also planning a new port which will be completely automated.
They are all very focussed on growth. The country’s people are proud of what they do and one morning on the television news they thanked their egg producers and produce farmers for increasing production. They are only 34.4% self-sufficient in eggs at present and 10% in poultrymeat (I am not surprised given the climate) but can you imagine our politicians thanking our producers?
My neighbour who is a milk producer has just been fined £800 for producing 80 litres over his contracted amount and another has just tipped three days production down the drain to keep within his contract. What madness is this when we import dairy products?
It was also interesting to hear how they treat immigrants. They allow them but they do not get the same benefits as locals. As an example they have to pay for their children’s education. They have very strict laws generally, which are enforced. For example, I heard about a person who delivered pork chops to six Muslim temples and he was imprisoned for six years. The country is 70% Chinese, 15% indigenous Malay, and 10% Indian and all new developments have to be occupied in this ratio. Anyway, the purpose of my visit was to catch up with my sister-in-law from Melbourne and this was achieved.
The lesson I would draw from the trip is somehow we have to get our leaders to think long term. We also need to be more loyal to our own production.
Anyway, I am now home and back to judging the entries for the National Egg & Poultry Awards. What a difficult job as the standard is so high! These entries show what can be achieved with true stockmanship backed up by modern technology. I am pleased to see that stockmanship is still important.
Congratulations to the NFU for running Love British Chicken Week in May. I hope it will be the first of many.