TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — National Taiwan University (NTU) is using technology to improve the efficiency of hog farming and cut its impact on the environment, reports said Wednesday (Oct. 13).

The annual production value of the sector is estimated at NT$70 billion (US$2.49 billion), and the average Taiwanese consumes 30 kilograms of pork per year, CNA reported, underlining the importance of the new techniques.

NTU said it had successfully reduced the smell and other negative byproducts of hog farming while shortening the production period by two weeks and helping farmers to raise their profits by 5%.

The four-year program was the result of a Ministry of Science and Technology initiative from 2018 to apply the results of laboratory research to real-life hog farming, starting with the quality of animal feed but also improving the environment for the animals and finding solutions to the problem of waste management.