“Ang pag-aalaga ng baboy ay isang magandang pagkakakitaan,bukod sa madali itong alagaan madali din itong pagkakitaan (Swine raising is a great source of income, aside from being easy to tend, it’s also an easy way to gain profit).”

This is how Eleanor Derilo, president of the Bacon Hog Raising Association (BAHORA), expressed her insights on swine raising during the Stakeholders Consultation for Swine in the province of Sorsogon.

Derilo has been raising swine for almost 30 years. This is where she get most of her family’s daily expenses. Although their family owns a small rice field and a few coconut trees, their income is still inadequate.

She decided to focus on swine raising for she believes that this will give them a steady source of income. She sells live pigs for P2,500.00 to P3,000.00 each, but plans to have ten sow to make their business more sustainable.

Sorsogon ranks twelfth in the 2016 share in swine production in the whole South Luzon provinces. The backyard and commercial hog farm have an increasing-decreasing growth trend.

According to the Hog Inventory in 2016, Sorsogon had shared 80,396 heads or 98% on backyard farming and only 1,827 heads or 2% on commercial farming. This indicates that Sorsogon produces a good number of hogs but only a few prefer to do commercial farming.

The Bicol I-PLAN team and the Provincial Project Management and Implementing Unit (PPMIU) of Sorsogon conducted a stakeholders’ consultation together with the competent representatives from their partner agencies, namely, Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to assist in improving the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) formulated by the PPMIU Sorsogon.

During the discussion of the PCIP, the swine raisers shared their observations and raised questions on different segments on swine raising. Each agency representatives gave their comments and suggestions on how to address these constraints and help them determine the priority interventions to strengthen and enhance their competitiveness and productivity. These representatives also expressed their commitments to aid the organized swine raisers prosper in the swine industry.

“Nagpapasalamat po kami sa oportunidad na maitatao samo kan PRDP. Dakulaon ang maitatabang samo sa industriya kan pagbababoyan digdi sa probinsya (We are grateful for the opportunity that PRDP can give us, it will greatly contribute to the swine industry in our province),” Derilo said.

PCIP is a three-year rolling consensus plan between DA and local government units based on the value chain analyses (VCA) of these commodities, with strong participation of the various stakeholders. ### (Michelle Angela G. Alfigura, DA-PRDP RPCO 5 InfoACE Unit)

Jesus Ravanilla, presents the Swine situationer in the Province of Sorsogon as well as the PCIP to the participants of the Swine Stakeholders Consultation. (Photo by Michelle Angela G. Alfigura, DA-PRDP RPCO 5 InfoACE Unit)