TASEK GELUGOR, July 16 – The Penang state government will not close down the 85 pig farms at Kampung Selamat here due to pollution issues with the main Sungai Kereh as it would affect the self-sustaining pork supply in the state.

State executive councillor for agriculture and agro-based industry, rural development and health Dr Afif Bahardin said all these farms are all licensed and closing the farms is not the only way to resolve pollution issues with the river that supplies water to the nearby paddy fields.

“To resolve the pollution, we have to conduct stringent checks on the farms to ensure that they adhere to regulations and come up with a centralised waste treatment management system,” he said at a press conference at the Sungai Kereh water pump house here.

To implement the centralised waste treatment management system, the state government would need funds from the federal government to set up the infrastructure.

The state government, through the Veterinary Service Department, have allocated RM90,000 this year to reduce the level of pollution at the river.

“This issue of pollution is a 15-year problem, not a recent problem and since 2008, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government had taken several measures to reduce the pollution in the river,” he said.

The river is the main water supply to 351ha of paddy fields at Kampung Tok Bedu, Kampung Air Melintas Kecil, Datuk Keramat, Tasek Gelugor and Kampung Matahari Naik.

The drainage system from the pig farms leads to the Parit Besar Tasek Gelugor and the drain leads directly to the river.

Dr Afif (left) with a staff inspecting the structure where UM is injected into the river to reduce pollution. – Picture by K.E. Ooi

Dr Afif said back in 2008, the level of pollution in the river is at level five out of five but after the state government implemented several measures to reduce pollution including injecting useful microbes (UM) to clear the pollution, the level had reduced to three now.

“We had allocated RM10,000 to inject UM into the river in 2010, then we spent RM25,000 in 2011 and last year, we allocated RM40,000,” he said.

He also thanked the former Tasek Gelugor MP Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop who had allocated RM750,000 for infrastructure works to reduce pollution for the river.

He said the Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob, in his winding up speech in reply to a question by Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya, had suggested that the farms be closed down to resolve this pollution.

“He had accused the state government of not doing anything about the polluted river which is not true,” he said.

He said the farms have been around for many years and all of the farms are licensed and had adhered to rules and regulations.

“We can’t close down the farms as they supply about 100,000 pigs to the state and by closing them down, it would create a shortage of pork in the state,” he said.

He added that if the ministry is serious in wanting to reduce pollution in the river, then it should allocate funds to the state for it to implement a centralised waste management system for the farms.

“We need to set up seven livestock sediment ponds and a centralised waste management system to arrest this pollution problem so that waste do not end up going into the river,” he said.

“For now, we are only able to inject UM into the river but it flows down and no matter how much we use, we are not able to bring the pollution level to two,” he added.

If the federal government does not want to allocate funding for the centralised waste management system, Dr Afif said the state will have to look at other ways to set it up including getting the farms to pitch in.