COPRA AS PIG FOOD

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1940, Page 2

COPRA AS PIG FOOD

INQUIRY FROM TARANAKI Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P. for Egmont, some little time ago wrote to Fiji making inquiries in regard to the suitability of copra for pig food, and has just received the following reply from an ex- | porting firm in Fiji:— "Our own opinion is that copra in other than very small quantities would be a dangerous food for pigs because of its high oil content — 65 to 70 per cent. On the other hand, the Director of Agriculture in the local Government is understood to be experimenting with the idea of feeding copra to pigs during this period when copra values are so low. If you write to him he would be interested in replying to you and giving the results of any experiments he may have made. "If you can use copra, whether for pig I feeding or for other purposes, there would be no difficulty in getting you any quantity you could conceivably de- : sire at very low prices. The prices I would vary according to overseas values ! of copra at the moment. To-day we I would sell you copra in bags for about i £4 10s a ton, local currency, f.o.b. Suva, | or its equivalent in' New Zealand cur- , rency. '

"Our own view is that the only safe coconut food for pigs — and it is a very excellent food for pigs— would be copra meal, i.e., copra from which 60 per cent. or so of the- total weight has been taken j out in oil form. The only crusher locally in Suva is Union Soaps, Ltd. They do I not crush very large quantities and the I meal they obtain from their crushing is « ordinarily saleable locally at fairly high | figures. Indeed, the meal, though in I common parlance called a waste product ! of copra, would cost you per ton a good deal more than the copra from which it is made." From the above it would appear as though the cost of the copra meal would perhaps be prohibitive, but' further inquiries regarding this are now being made.