South Korean pig production performance and management improved from 2017 to 2020: Improvements in zootechnical performance, biosecurity management, and animal health management

To keep a viable pig sector in South Korea and a high self-sufficiency in pig meat, zootechnical performance, biosecurity management, and animal health management of South Korean pig farmers should be improved. Can training of South Korean farmers and training of their advisors increase the speed at which the pig sector in South Korea improves beyond the autonomous development? For all three topics, a small autonomous improvement was observed from 2017 to 2020. However, we cannot draw statistically reliable conclusions whether the two types of training increased the speed because of too few participants. Performance and management were measured in two surveys. A baseline survey, held before the first training, yielded 241 respondents and an endline survey, held after the last training, yielded 187 respondents. Of 107 respondents, we could link baseline and endline, of which eight participated in a training and 17 had their advisor in a training. Statistical analyses were performed on all respondents and on the 107 linked respondents. These included descriptive statistics and analyses of differences in responses between baseline en endline and in development between respondents with and without training and with and without their advisor in training (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, paired t-test, McNemar test, Mann-Whitney U test, depending on variable type).