Saturday, May 12, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Nearly 20 Killed in TNLA Attack on Outskirts of Muse

Posted: 12 May 2018 01:20 AM PDT

YANGON — Nineteen people including a police captain were killed and 29 were wounded when the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) attacked government security posts outside Muse, Shan State, near the border with China early on Saturday morning.

Myanmar State Counselor's Office Director General U Zaw Htay said 15 civilians, a police captain and three government-backed militia members were killed during the fighting while 20 local people, three policemen and six militia members were wounded.

More than 100 TNLA troops launched a surprise attack on a police outpost at the Pan Kham Bridge at 5:15 a.m., he said in a Facebook post.

The TNLA confirmed it had launched an attack on Pan Kham village, about a mile from Muse, and on a nearby casino and the Pan Kham Bridge, at around 5:30 a.m. The attack ended at about 8:30 am, it said.

U Thaung Tun of Muse-based Karuna Social Services said his organization helped transport the injured to the hospital from the bridge and a nearby jetty, after being alerted to the clash by the sound of gunfire. He said many relatives of the victims had also gone to the hospital.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy at around noon, U Thaung Tun said the fighting had subsided.

"We beg the armed forces to end the fighting in civilian areas. We want peace immediately," he said.

Shan State lawmaker Sai Kyaw Thein told The Irrawaddy that the TNLA attacked a security outpost manned by police officers and militia members on Pan Kham Bridge. The fighting was over by 9 a.m., he said.

TNLA spokesman Mai Aik Kyaw told The Irrawaddy the attack was a "small" offensive targeting positions held by the Tatmadaw and an allied militia. He said they also attacked a casino in the area.

He said the TNLA launched the attack "because the Myanmar Tatmadaw has been attacking our temporary camps in the jungle. Also, there are military tensions in areas controlled by our allies, the Kachin Independence Army. Therefore, we launched this minor offensive."

Mai Aik Kyaw said the casino was targeted because it is backed by the militia and its supporter, the Tatmadaw. "There have been so many reports from locals about their lives being damaged by thefts, robberies, gambling and drugs. So we attacked them. Also, the casualties were armed militia members and their families," he said.

He blamed the high casualty toll on the Tatmadaw and militia, saying their troops fired their weapons blindly.

"When we attacked, they shot back blindly. We don't know the exact numbers of deaths and we are trying to confirm whose weapons killed those people. We are sorry for the civilian casualties."

But U Zaw Htay rejected the TNLA's claim as "unacceptable," saying launching an attack on a town was not a justifiable response to having been defeated in the jungle, particularly in light of Saturday's civilian death toll.

"Targeting innocent civilians is not calling for ethnic rights. It's an act of violence," he said.

This is the second significant attack by ethnic armed forces in the area. In November 2016, the Northern Alliance, which comprises the TNLA and three other groups, attacked Mong Koe near Muse, harming trade in the area and sparking further conflict.

Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint and Chit Min Tin contributed to this report.

The post Nearly 20 Killed in TNLA Attack on Outskirts of Muse appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Could Informal Talks Revitalize the Peace Process?

Posted: 11 May 2018 05:30 PM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – It is quite often said that more informal talks are needed to move the sluggish peace process forward. Informal talks have been few and far between under the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government. Peace negotiators have pointed out that the lack of such talks is one of the reasons the peace process has not made much progress.

Those close to the government's Peace Commission have been saying this for the past couple years. Now the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) are echoing the idea.

"We have to make an effort to bridge the gap between the government, the Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military] and the EAOs through more informal meetings," said General Saw Mutu Say Poe, chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU). He leads the Peace Process Steering Team and made the remarks at its 19th meeting on May 9. The KNU and nine other ethnic groups have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

During negotiations led by U Aung Min, a former President's Office minister and chief peace negotiator at the former Myanmar Peace Center, unofficial talks with EAOs were held three times as often as formal negotiations. Under the NLD, informal talks with NCA signatories have become rare, while informal meetings with non-signatories have yet to take place.

Informal talks between the government and the NCA signatories have happened only twice, with the first being held in December 2017.

Tensions have grown and clashes have increased between the Tatmadaw and even those ethnic groups that have signed the NCA. Militarization is rising, especially in Karen and Shan states, further undermining the trust-building efforts of all armed groups.

Many stakeholders have grown disappointed, and blame the situation on the lack of informal talks. It seems there is a lack of understanding about the importance of such talks, further contributing to the confusion.

A leader of the Union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC) once told me they could not openly discuss issues during supposedly "informal" talks, as the process had become too formal. The JMC discussed military affairs; all the discussions at these talks were recorded, leaving the negotiators feeling wary.

This week, the government's PC and the Karenni National Progressive Party, a non-signatory to the NCA, were supposed to meet informally in Mae Hong Song, Thailand. However, the event was postponed, as the government reportedly did not send an official letter regarding the talks.

Khun Myint Tun, an ethnic leader from the PaO National Liberation Organization said, "When we engage in discussions as part of official negotiations, we are bound by the formality of representing each organization. Therefore, informal talks are needed. We need to recognize each other's goals, and that can only be done if we discuss things openly. And then we need to find practical solutions. If we don't, we are out of the loop, and can only have heated debates at the formal talks; the peace process cannot proceed."

Informal talks can be held at any convenient time or place, such as in a coffee shop or at a working lunch or even during an evening drinks session. But that doesn't mean such discussions aren't substantive. They are a way to advance the interests of each nationality, as well as genuine peace and federalism building. At informal talks, the focus is most certainly on these topics.

The setting for peace talks, whether formal or informal, look similar, causing people to become confused as to their significance, said Dr. Salai Lian Hmung Sakhong, an ethnic Chin leader who
has participated in the peace process since it began. This is because the peace talks require seating arrangements, official introductions and sometimes the delivery of public speeches.

Dr. Salai Lian Hmung Sakhong, who is also vice chair of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), said informal talks serve as stepping stones to formal ones by creating an environment in which participants hear each other's opinions, and thoroughly discuss them before stepping up to a formal setting.

Raising the example of the process that led to the signing of the NCA, he said, "We were able to sign the NCA because there were so many informal meetings surrounding the drafting of the text. It helps us to understand the perspectives of each side. We were able to discuss openly and debate. Sometimes there were heated debates, sometimes it went smoothly."

While hailed in many quarters as a significant achievement, the NCA also split the country's EAOs. Initially, only eight groups signed in October 2015, with the rest rejecting the Tatmadaw's insistence that signatories accept the 2008 Constitution. The non-signatories say the Constitution lacks federalist principles.

Another major obstacle facing the peace process is the inability of parties to look beyond narrow self-interest. Rarely if ever do any of the armed stakeholders admit that the fighting is about control of natural resources or the economic potential of specific areas. Many leaders believe informal talks would help to overcome such hurdles.

"These days we focus on talking about politics; before, talks were focused on social and economic development and there was not so much concern over self-interest," Khun Myint Tun said.

"Political changes, economic reform and the peace process are now going in the same direction, and some people have concerns over their own interests. Thus everyone should openly discuss about their self-interest," the ethnic leader said.

In its current form, the peace process is now almost seven years old. The government, Tatmadaw, and EAO representatives have met thousands of times, both formally and informally. They have been conducting both unofficial talks and formal negotiations, including the ongoing 21st-Century Panglong Union Peace Conference. But they have yet to develop an efficient channel for holding unofficial talks that can build the necessary trust between all parties.

The post Could Informal Talks Revitalize the Peace Process? appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Govt Official’s Bias for ‘Peace Journalism’ Sparks Media Backlash

Posted: 11 May 2018 07:57 AM PDT

YANGON — An Information Ministry official on Thursday said the government was granting special access to conflict zones to reporters who practice “peace journalism” and who don’t “fuel the flames,” sparking a backlash among those left off the list.

On Wednesday, the ministry organized a rare guided media tour of northern Kachin State’s strife-torn Tanai Township, inviting reporters for Chinese and Japanese news outlets and some government-affiliated broadcasters while ignoring some locally based independent outlets, including the Myitkyina News Journal and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB).

Journalist who weren’t invited took to email and Facebook to ask Deputy Information Minister U Aung Hla Tun — a veteran reporter who worked for Reuters for many years under military rule — why they were ignored. On Thursday, the deputy minister posted his reply on Facebook.

In his post, U Aung Hla Tun said: "It's very important that we mustn't send those who will fan and fuel the flames of conflict. We should prioritize those who practice peace journalism. Nothing is more precious than peace for our country at present."

The deputy minister added that the Chinese and Japanese outlets were also favored for the tour because the two countries were assisting in Myanmar’s peace process and explained that his ministry did not select the outlets for the tour on its own. Though he did not say who else was involved in the decision, media experts believe it coordinates with the ministries of Border Affairs, Defense and Home Affairs — all under the military’s control — in hopes of assuring sympathetic coverage.

China and Japan are also significant investors in Myanmar’s business and urban development sectors but are believed to have invested relatively little in the country’s peace process compared to the European Union and Western countries such as Britain, Norway, Switzerland and the US.

DVB reporter Ko Aung Thu, who is based in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy that journalists not invited on Wednesday’s tour were not even allowed to attend a press conference with Kachin State Chief Minister U Hket Awng on Friday.

"We only had a few minutes to ask questions when the chief minister came out after a press briefing with selected journalists," he said.

U Zayar Haling, co-founder of the monthly magazine Mawkun and a member of the Myanmar Press Council, said the deputy minister was effectively accusing journalists who weren’t invited on the tour of being unethical troublemakers. He said the ministry should not discriminate but rather grant all journalists equal access.

"I think they selected those who would not write negatively about the government," said U Zayar Hlaing.

Press Council member U Myint Kyaw agreed. He said some reporters could indeed “fuel the flames,” as the deputy minister suggested, but added that he should not have leveled such sweeping criticism.

U Myint Kyaw said the ministry should be more open and transparent about the limited powers it has in selecting journalists for such media tours. He said the military admitted to journalists at a workshop in February that it had criteria for deciding who to invite on tours but did not explain what they were.

Many reporters expected conditions for local journalists to improve with former colleagues such as U Aung Hla Tun and Information Minister U Pe Myint now in government. However, both men have been accused of making the situation worse.

"I believe government thinking takes over journalistic thinking once they become bureaucrats," U Myint Kyaw said.

The post Govt Official’s Bias for ‘Peace Journalism’ Sparks Media Backlash appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Sharky’s Offers a Familiar, Excellent Experience in the Heart of Bagan

Posted: 11 May 2018 06:32 AM PDT

Sharky's, an award-winning restaurant popular with Yangon residents and visitors, opened a branch in Bagan a little over a year ago and it's quickly become the best restaurant in Myanmar's ancient capital.

Sharky's is known for its artisan dishes, original creations and use of local ingredients to offer great, fresh-tasting fare. The new branch stays true to the formula.

Sharky's Bagan is located opposite the northern city's famous Shwezigon Pagoda in a large space that once housed an old cinema called Aung Mingalar.

Last week, I went to Bagan for work and after a long day cycling around in the dust with my colleague, we headed there for dinner because I didn't want to miss the chance to see how the Bagan Sharky's compared with the original in Yangon.

I was especially eager to see how they had restored the theatre.

Sharky's Bagan is truly massive with many tables and places to sit. At the entrance is a small bar decorated with used wine bottles. Beyond that lies a small garden with a lotus pond, which creates a nice vibe as you enter the restaurant.

A bartender makes a juice at Sharky’s Bagan

After following a long straight path, we came to the main building and two counters where staff were waiting to greet us. The main building is like a hall with long benches and really warm lighting that provides a friendly atmosphere.

We started with juices — Lemon Mint for me and Rosemary and Honey for my colleague — at 3000 kyats each. My Lemon Mint wasn't particularly sour and refreshed me nicely after a long, hot day on the bike tour.

The staff was friendly and the one who explained the menu was helpful with her recommendations.

When we arrived, the restaurant was quiet with only one group of foreigners at the food station. May is actually not the best time to visit Bagan because it's the middle of summer and generally too hot.

But during high season, the restaurant is busy every day with many customers, according to the waitress who served us.

Sharky’s Italian Basil Pesto Pizza and Rainbow Salad

I had been hankering for a delicious Shaky's pizza and ordered a small Italian Basil Pesto Pizza with an organic Rainbow Salad as a side dish. Sharky's has its own organic farm at the back of the restaurant, which guests are allowed to tour, but we missed the chance to do so because it was late and too dark.

To ensure we fully explored the menu, we also ordered the Beef Burger and half a Roasted Chicken.

Thanks to the light crowd, our orders came quickly.

My Rainbow Salad, which came in a generous portion, really was like a rainbow, with many colorful vegetables. I'm not usually a big fan of salads but I loved this one. Made with fresh organic greens and edible flowers and Sharky's home-made cheese, it was simply delicious.

Sharky's make their own breads, grow their own herbs and salads, and even the eggs they use are organic, while their homemade cheese is justly famous among regular customers.

The popular Sharky’s roast chicken

The beef burger was perfectly done and their homemade buns soft. Sharky's uses local beef for the patty and the large servings meant I was full after eating just half of it. The French fries that came with the burgers were also amazing.

The Roasted Chicken was perfectly matched with its sauce and came with potato wedges. Our dinner was too much really and I thought my belly was about to explode.

Ordering the small size pizza proved to be the right choice because we were already full but the Lemon Mint juice helped revive me.

The menu is a bit different from the one offered at the Yangon Sharky's and that night we weren't able to order any pork dishes because they were out of stock.

Like the original branch in Yangon , the Sharky's Bagan has an impressive wine menu and their signature cocktail menu.

The massive entrance to Sharky’s Bagan

To be sure, the food is not cheap, and you might feel strange sitting in an open food hall but you will quickly relax.

And while you wait you can see how much thought and attention have gone into every decoration and food detail, such as the old wine bottles used as modified bulbs throughout the restaurant.

The important thing is you will go back to your hotel with a full stomach and feeling wholly satisfied.

No one goes to Bagan for the food but Sharky's is there for its old customers and for travelers who want a little taste of Western food in Myanmar's ancient city.

The post Sharky's Offers a Familiar, Excellent Experience in the Heart of Bagan appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Industrial Zones Planned in 11 Yangon Townships

Posted: 11 May 2018 05:42 AM PDT

YANGON — Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein has announced plans to establish industrial zones in 11 townships on the outskirts of Yangon with the aim of addressing unequal development in the commercial capital.

He unveiled the plan on the sidelines of the Yangon Investment Forum 2018 on Wednesday.

The move aims to bring about equitable development among townships in Yangon Region, the chief minister said. "I want to have industrial zones in those 11 townships. They are lagging behind in terms of development," U Phyo Min Thein said.

The industrial zones will provide jobs for internal migrants who come to the city in search of greener economic pastures, while also improving local residents' standard of living, he said.

"We will establish industrial zones in order to reduce development gaps between the townships. We have earmarked 1,000 to 2,000 acres in each of the 11 townships for future industrial development projects," said U Than, joint secretary of the Yangon City Development City.

He added that farmland would be purchased for the project, at fair prices.

"We will seek approval from the Union government to use land owned by local farmers for industrial purposes, and compensate the farmers according to market prices," U Than said.

According to the plan, owners of farmland taken by the government for industrial development will retain ownership of 20 percent of the land, and the government will control the remaining 80 percent.

U Phyo Min Thein said that "Businessmen [earlier] bought land from farmers and applied for permission to use that land for other purposes. The farmers sold the land for just 2 million kyats per acre or so. After the businessmen sought industrial-use permits for the land, the value of the land soared to 100 million kyats. So the farmers are really sad."

The YCDC has 25 plots of land above 3 acres in area and 120 plots that are less than 3 acres available for lease to private investors for the purpose of establishing factories and workshops, U Than said.

The plan calls for industrial zones to be built in Hmawbi, Taikkyi, Hlegu, Htantabin, Twante, Kawhmu, Kunchangon, Thanlyin, Kyauktan, Kayan and Thongwa townships.

The post Industrial Zones Planned in 11 Yangon Townships appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Army Enters the Fray around Namtu, Clashing with TNLA

Posted: 11 May 2018 03:25 AM PDT

YANGON—Clashes broke out between the Myanmar Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in three different parts of Namtu Township yesterday. The rebel group claimed four government soldiers were killed in the fighting, although this could not be immediately verified.

"The (Tatmadaw troops) entered an area where the TNLA and SSPP fought each other last week," said TNLA spokesperson Col. Tar Aike Kyaw.

He said the Myanmar Army had deployed a lot of soldiers around three villages — Mang Ain, Kon Mong and Nar Lay — that were the scene of the fighting between the two armed ethnic groups last week. According to the TNLA, four Myanmar Army soldiers were killed in the fighting near Mang Ain village between 9:25 and 10: 25 am (local time).

Namtu is in northern Shan State, near Lashio. Many ethnic armed groups including the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), TNLA, and Kachin Independence Army have bases in Namtu Township.

Hostilities often break out between the RCSS and TNLA, but more recently the TNLA and SSPP have battled each other following territorial disputes.

The TNLA reported that there was a misunderstanding among the ground forces last week, resulting in the clash. But, the TNLA withdrew its troops following the fighting although tension remains high between the two members of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), an alliance of seven armed ethnic groups in the northeast of the country.

According to Col. Tar Aike Kyaw, the recent fighting means the TNLA has to had open three fronts in Namtun Township, against the Myanmar Army, the SSPP, and the RCSS.

The clash with a joint force made up of Infantry Divisions 77 and 88 broke out after the army deployed many men in Namtu township, according to the TNLA.

"We are watching each other's troop movements at the moment. Tension is high," Col. Tar Aike Kyaw said.

Namtu has been home to over 1,000 of IDPs since fighting broke out in 2011 between the KIA and the Myanmar Army. Ethnic Kachin fled first from their villages and came to the town. Later, ethnic Palaung were forced to seek sanctuary in the town when the TNLA and Myanmar Army started fighting in 2014. Then Shan and Lahu villagers were forced to flee when the TNLA and RCSS clashed in 2016.

UN agencies are not able to provide food to IDPs, forcing these displaced villagers to rely on donations from local people in northern Shan. The government has also failed to provide food to the IDPs, according to IDP camp leaders.

The post Army Enters the Fray around Namtu, Clashing with TNLA appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Collateral-Free Loans Trialed for Small Farmers in Naypyitaw

Posted: 11 May 2018 02:06 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — The Small and Medium Industrial Development Bank (SMIDB) will launch a trial scheme to provide collateral-free loans to vegetable farmers in the Naypyitaw Council area, Union Industry Minister U Khin Maung Cho announced on Tuesday.

The minister announced the plan at a ceremony to mark the approval of loans to operators of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises at SMIDB's Naypyitaw branch.

The bank will lend the farmers 500,000 kyats per acre without requiring collateral. It is the first such scheme launched by the current government, U Khin Maung Cho said.

The bank selected 15 farmers in the village of Kin Pun Tan in Pyinmana Township to receive a total of 6,150,000 kyats. They farm a total of 12.30 acres.

The interest rate is 13 percent, as fixed by the Central Bank of Myanmar, and the repayment period is six months.

"The borrowers have to pay it back on time. If they fail to do so, we won't lend them money again, and they will also face legal action," the minister said.

Loan recipient U Tun Maung said, "The interest rate is OK for me. I'll be able to repay it monthly, as I raise fast-growing crops," he said.

The bank will provide loans not only to land owners, but also to tenant farmers who can show land rent documents.

The SMIDB has earmarked 60 billion kyats for loans to vegetable farmers in an effort to ensure domestic food sufficiency, said the bank's chief executive officer, Dr. Zeya Nyunt.

"It is important that borrowers invest the loans in their businesses, and not elsewhere," he said.

The loan scheme is a joint initiative between the Industry Ministry and SMIDB. The bank also provides loans to civil servants, offering up to five times their salaries at 1 percent interest.

The post Collateral-Free Loans Trialed for Small Farmers in Naypyitaw appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

No Need to Approve Yangon Expansion Plan Again, Chief Minister Says

Posted: 11 May 2018 01:52 AM PDT

YANGON — Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said his government would not submit the new Yangon city project to the regional Parliament because it was already approved during the preceding administration of President U Thein Sein.

"Regarding the site for the project, even the land confiscation orders for the project were issued by the previous government. And the current Parliament has to implement what was approved by the previous Parliament," the chief minister told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of an investment forum in Yangon.

"Local people in the area are quite poor and their agricultural production is quite low. Parliament approved the project after a Kyimyindaing [Township] lawmaker submitted the proposal again," he added.

In August 2014, then-Yangon Region Chief Minister U Myint Swe announced plans to expand the city by some 30,000 acres westward. The proposal was later shelved after allegations by lawmakers that the owner of the Myanmar Saytanar Myothit company, which won the original bid, had close ties to the chief minister.

The following year, Yangon Mayor U Hla Myint presented plans to Parliament to develop seven new satellite towns — including the new city — covering some 30,000 acres in Kyimyindaing, Seikgyikanaungto and Twante townships on the west side of the Yangon River.

The plan was approved and put out to tender, and in January 2016 three companies were selected to implement a smaller version of the new city project. But after the National League for Democracy took office in early 2016, the new Yangon government cancelled the contracts.

In April, the Yangon government formed the New Yangon Development Co. Ltd. (NYDC) to develop the new city project, which it said would create over two million jobs. The NYDC is fully owned by the regional government.

"We lawmakers have suggested that this project should be reviewed,” U Kyaw Zeya, a lawmaker representing Dagon Township, told The Irrawaddy.

“It is true that the previous regional Parliament had approved it. But if the regional government continues with the project, a confrontation is likely between us and them," he said. "Though it has been approved by the previous Parliament, procedures have changed. So there is a need to approve it again. If not, we would have to ask legally."

He said the project should be discussed in Parliament again because it would be implemented through a public-private partnership and with loans from the World Bank.

The $1.5 billion project will include two bridges linking five townships, a main road stretching 26 km, an industrial zone covering 10 square km, a power plant and power stations, and water and sewage treatment plants, according to the Yangon Region government.

U Phyo Min Thein said profits from investment projects in the new city would also be used to improve services in the older parts of Yangon.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post No Need to Approve Yangon Expansion Plan Again, Chief Minister Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China’s Multi-Story Hog Hotels Elevate Industrial Farms to New Levels

Posted: 10 May 2018 11:21 PM PDT

YAJI MOUNTAIN, China — On Yaji Mountain in southern China, they are checking in the sows a thousand head per floor in high-rise “hog hotels.”

Privately owned agricultural company Guangxi Yangxiang Co. Ltd. is running two seven-floor sow breeding operations, and is putting up four more, including one with as many as 13 floors that will be the world’s tallest building of its kind.

Hog farms of two or three floors have been tried in Europe. Some are still operating. Others have been abandoned. But few new ones have been built in recent years, because of management difficulties and public resistance to large, intensive farms.

Now, as China pushes ahead with industrialization of the world’s largest hog herd, part of a 30-year effort to modernize its farm sector and create wealth in rural areas, companies are experimenting with high-rise housing for pigs despite the costs. The “hotels” show how far some breeders are willing to go as China overhauls its farming model.

“There are big advantages to a high-rise building,” said Xu Jiajing, manager of Yangxiang’s mountaintop farm.

“It saves energy and resources. The land area is not that much but you can raise a lot of pigs.”

Companies like Yangxiang are pumping more money into the buildings — about 30 percent more than on single-story modern farms — even as hog prices in China hold at an eight-year low.

For some, the investments are too risky. Besides low prices that have smaller operations culling sows or rethinking expansion plans, there is worry about diseases spreading through such intensive operations.

But success for high-rise pig farms in China could have implications across densely populated, land-scarce Asia, as well as for equipment suppliers.

“We see an increasing demand for two- or three-level buildings,” said Peter van Issum, managing director of Microfan, a Dutch supplier that designed Yangxiang’s ventilation system.

Microfan also supplied a three-story breeding operation, Daedeok JongDon GGP Farm, in South Korea.

“The higher ones are still an exception, but the future might change rapidly,” van Issum said.

High-rise hogs

Yaji Mountain seems an unlikely location for a huge breeding farm. Up a narrow road, away from villages, massive concrete pig buildings overlook a valley of dense forest that Yangxiang plans to develop as a tourist attraction.

The site, however, is relatively close to Guigang, a city with a river port and waterway connections to the Pearl River Delta, one of the world’s most densely populated regions.

While Beijing is encouraging more livestock production in China’s grain basket in the northeast, many worry that farms there will struggle to get fresh pork safely to big cities thousands of miles away.

That has helped push some farm investments to southern provinces like Guangxi and Fujian, where land is hilly but much closer to many of China’s biggest cities.

Yangxiang will house 30,000 sows on its 11-hectare site by year-end, producing as many as 840,000 piglets annually. That will likely make it the biggest, most-intensive breeding farm globally. A more typical large breeding farm in northern China would have 8,000 sows on around 13 hectares.

In Fujian Province, Shenzhen Jinxinnong Technology Co. Ltd. also plans to invest 150 million yuan ($24 million) in two five-story sow farms in Nanping. Two other companies are building high-rise hog farms in Fujian as well, according to an equipment firm involved in the projects.

Thai livestock-to-retail conglomerate CP Foods is also building four six-story pig units with local firm Zhejiang Huatong Meat Products Co. in Yiwu, a Chinese city near the large populations around Shanghai.

High-tech complexity

Yangxiang spent 16,000 yuan per sow on its new farm, about 500 million yuan total, not including the cost of the pigs. Building upwards means higher costs and greater complexity, such as for piping feed into buildings, said Xue Shiwei, vice chief operations officer at Pipestone Livestock Technology Consultancy, a Chinese unit of a US farm management company.

“It would save on land but increase the complexity of the structure, and costs for concrete or steel would be higher,” he said.

Health concerns also raise costs, because the risk of rampant disease — an ever-present problem in China’s livestock sector — is higher with more animals under one roof.

Even two-story farms in Europe have sparked worries that pigs will receive less care, said Irene Camerlink, an animal welfare expert at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna who has worked with Chinese farms.

Any outbreak of disease could lead to extensive culling, she said.

Farm manager Xu said Yangxiang reduces the risk of disease by managing each floor separately, with staff working on the same floor every day. New sows are introduced to a building on the top floor, and are then moved by elevator to an assigned level, where they remain.

The ventilation system is designed to prevent air from circulating between floors or to other buildings. Air enters through ground channels and passes through ventilation ducts on each level. The ducts are connected to a central exhaust on the roof, with powerful extraction fans pulling the air through filters and pushing it out of 15-meter-high chimneys.

A waste treatment plant is still under construction on Yaji Mountain to handle the site’s manure. After treatment, the liquid will be sprayed on the surrounding forest, and solids sold to nearby farms as organic fertilizer.

The project’s additional equipment — much of it imported — to reduce disease, environmental impact and labor costs, significantly increased Yangxiang’s spending, the company said.

But after testing other models, Yangxiang concluded the multi-story building was best. Others are less convinced.

“We need time to see if this model is doable,” said Xue of the farm management firm, adding that he would not encourage clients to opt for “hog hotels.”

“There will be many new, competing ideas [about how to raise pigs in China],” Xue said, including high-rise farms.

Eventually, “a suitable model will emerge.”

The post China’s Multi-Story Hog Hotels Elevate Industrial Farms to New Levels appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Trump Seeks ‘Very Meaningful’ Summit in Singapore with North Korea

Posted: 10 May 2018 11:00 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had high hopes of “doing something very meaningful” to curtail North Korea’s nuclear ambitions at a summit in Singapore next month, after Pyongyang smoothed the way for talks by freeing three American prisoners.

The date and location of the first-ever meeting of a sitting US president and a North Korean leader were announced by Trump on Twitter.

“The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th. We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” Trump wrote.

He made the announcement after a US government aircraft touched down at Joint Base Andrews near Washington carrying the Americans who were released by North Korea in a move to clear the way for the bilateral summit.

The ex-prisoners are Korean-American missionary Kim Dong-chul, who was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years’ hard labor; Kim Sang-duk, also known as Tony Kim, who taught for a month at a foreign-funded university before he was arrested in 2017; and Kim Hak-song, who also taught there and was detained last year.

North Korean state media said they were arrested for subversion or “hostile acts” against Pyongyang.

Trump faces a difficult task persuading Kim to abandon nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests that heightened US-North Korean tensions throughout 2017.

The two men exchanged fiery rhetoric last year over North Korea’s attempts to build a nuclear weapon that could reach the United States.

But tensions have since eased, starting around the time of the North’s participation in the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.

Trump greeted the freed Americans in the early morning hours. He said on their arrival that he believed Kim, who has led North Korea for seven years and is believed to be in his mid-30s, wanted to bring his country “into the real world.”

“I think we have a very good chance of doing something very meaningful,” Trump said. “My proudest achievement will be — this is part of it — when we denuclearize that entire peninsula.”

New US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has visited Pyongyang twice in recent weeks — once as head of the CIA — but there has been no sign he cleared up the central question of whether North Korea will be willing to bargain away nuclear weapons that its rulers have long seen as crucial to their survival.

Trump is embarking on the meeting with Kim after announcing on Tuesday the United States was pulling out of a 2015 accord imposing international oversight of Iran’s nuclear program.

The move raised questions over whether North Korea might now be less inclined to negotiate its own nuclear deal with Washington.

Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke by telephone on Wednesday. The White House said they “affirmed” the shared goal of North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

Japan worries it could be the target of any first use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang.

White House officials, without providing specifics, said on Thursday the meeting could be scuttled if North Korea did anything unacceptable over the next month.

“We're not under any illusions about who these people are,” National Security Council official Victoria Coates told reporters. “We know who we're dealing with here. But we got up front our people home rather than that having been an afterthought.”

‘Photo op’ worry

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, warned Trump against going too far, too fast in Singapore. The Republican president, he said, should insist on strong, verifiable disarmament commitments from North Korea.

“I worry that this president, in his eagerness to strike a deal and get the acclaim and a photo op, will strike a quick one and a bad one, not a strong one, not a lasting one,” Schumer said.

During Trump’s presidency, Kim has overseen a series of weapons tests to showcase his military’s progress on medium- and long-range missiles and atomic weapons that put the world on edge.

Last year, North Korea conducted more than a dozen tests that had missiles flying over the Sea of Japan, while another led experts to believe North Korea could possibly hit the mainland United States with a missile.

Trump has credited a US “maximum pressure” campaign for drawing North Korea to the negotiating table and vowed to keep economic sanctions in place until Pyongyang takes concrete steps to denuclearize.

But former spy chief Kim Yong Chul, director of North Korea’s United Front Department, said in a toast to Pompeo over lunch in Pyongyang this week: “We have perfected our nuclear capability. It is our policy to concentrate all efforts into economic progress.”

Kim recently promised to suspend missile tests and shut a nuclear bomb test site.

The choice of Singapore will put the summit on friendly turf for Trump, as the island nation is a strong US ally and the US Navy frequently visits its port. White House spokesman Raj Shah said Singapore was chosen because it could ensure the security of both leaders and provide neutrality.

The wealthy financial and shipping hub is seen as a gateway between Asia and the West and has been called the "Switzerland of Asia,” in contrast to North Korea’s isolated economy that its leaders now want to modernize.

Nonetheless, Human Rights Watch has described Singapore as having a “stifling” political environment with severe restrictions on “basic rights.”

Singapore said in a statement late on Thursday it was pleased to host the meeting between Trump and Kim, adding: “We hope this meeting will advance prospects for peace in the Korean Peninsula.”

US officials had looked at several sites other than Singapore for the historic meeting.

Trump's own preference was for the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, but aides argued it would look too much like Trump going to Kim's turf.

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a rare round of talks at their heavily fortified demilitarized zone at the end of April, pledging to pursue peace after decades of conflict.

South Korea said on Thursday: "We hope the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula as well as permanent peace on the peninsula will successfully come about through this summit."

The post Trump Seeks ‘Very Meaningful’ Summit in Singapore with North Korea appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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