The Eddet Farmers Indigenous People’s Association (EFIPA) of barangay Eddet in Kabayan, Benguet is now gaining profits from their livelihood enterprise on Hog Raising and “kinnuday” Meat Processing.

EFIPA started with 15 members in 2015 primarily to manage livelihood activities and provide additional income to its members. In 2016, the group’s membership shot up to 78 and was able to register under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The group then, continued to grow with 113 farmer-members to date.

Most of the members are engaged in farming. However, the income is not enough to sustain their daily needs. Their initiatives to draw assistance from government and non-government agencies provided them with other sources of income beside farming, swine raising, and other livelihood activities.

Through the Kabayan Municipal Agriculture Office, EFIPA was able to have approved their enterprise proposal on Hog Raising and “kinnuday” Meat Processing under the Small Livelihood Project (SLP) of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP).

The SLP intends to provide an additional source of income to the members of the Association. With a project cost of P1,000,000.00 shared by the World Bank, the National Government through the DA, and the Local Government Unit of Kabayan, the group provided a counterpart in the form of pig pens.

Doing business with hogs

Hog raising in the community is a potential source of additional income. The demand for pigs during social activities like weddings and other community/ traditional festivities is quite high thus influenced the association to propose hog raising for their SLP.

From the 100 piglets and 156 sacks of feeds delivered on October of last year, the Association was able to gain a profit enough to rollout for another cycle.

20 farmer-members have received three to five piglets each from the first tranche of funding assistance. According to the members, the piglets were immediately sold out per live weight or kilograms. However, they weren’t able to set aside piglets for kinnuday processing since the demand for live weight was higher.

“We did not reach the target profit from the first tranche due to the high mortality rate of delivered piglets. But, we are still thankful for the results,” attested EPIFA Vice President Margie Felix.

The pigs were sold at P130.00 to P140.00 per live weight which amounts to more or less P11, 700.00 to 12,600.00 for one pig.

According to the members of the Association, one community gathering was followed by another, be it a wedding, a death of a family member, family reunions and other social activities that are celebrated in the community. Hence, the pigs were immediately sold out.

“Hota inevat shan baboy, pinarte ra jet hota nangda ni kinedo, in-karo ra ni amag ni baley sha (other beneficiaries butchered the pigs and used a kilogram or more of meat in exchange for labor work in constructing their house), shared Felix.

In Eddet, “karo” is practiced in the community wherein a resident will ask the other members of the community for help in constructing his house for instance. In exchange, the community members will be given a kilogram or more of meat instead of cash.

After the piglets were sold out, the Association was able to purchase new stocks for the second cycle. 82 piglets were distributed along with starter/ grower feeds and biologics benefitting the same recipients from the previous cycle.

To date, EFIPA is waiting for the completion of the second tranche delivery for the other members to avail. A total of 75 piglets and feeds are expected to be delivered this November. For the second tranche, the group plans to set aside stocks for kinnuday or smoked meat processing.

To sustain the enterprise, the group will be collecting the total investment cost provided including P200.00/pig as capital build-up and P5.00/head as service fee from each recipient.

With hopes of unceasingly implementing the enterprise, the EFIPA are looking forward for gaining and earning more from their livelihood enterprise on Hog Raising and “kinnuday” Meat Processing.### Elvy S. Taquio (DA-PRDP RPCO-CAR InfoACE Unit)