9 - NSF Digital Library

Table 4. World, Asia and Southeast Asia buffalo beef and bovine beef
production in 1994.
Geographicai . Beef production
looations
Buffalo Cattle Total beef Percentage of
( l0fJOM-p ---------------
----------- X buffalo beef
World
Asia
SE Asia
Brunei
Cambodia
Indonesia
Lao PDR
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam 94 79. 173 54.3
Adapted ftom: 1994 Produotion Yearbook (FAO, 1995)
WMe buffao beefacmmted fix only 4.8% ofthe total beef production in the
world, in Asia and SE Asia, the figure was 26%. Tn Lao PDR and Vietnam,
buffalo meat accounted for more than 50% of the total beef production in
1994 and about one-third of the beef production in the Philippines and
Cambodia However, the percentage of buffalo beef to the total meat
production is very small (Table 5), indicating a tremendous potential for the
buffalo meat to increase its share of the market fix meat products. With
increasing use of tra&ns in place of draught buffaloes, more animals may be
available for buffalo meat production.
In SE Asian countries, there are isolated cases where buffaloes are
raised pnrmmly for meat. In Indonesia, this occurs mainly in the marshland
of Kalimantan where. they multiply naturally. The animals are caught only