〔236〕 農林 業 問 題 研 究(第158号 ・2005年6月)

A Study of the Problems Confronting the Backyard Pig Raisers in

Batangas Province of Southern Luzon

Keshav Lall Maharjan (IDEC, Hiroshima University)

Carlos C. Fradejas (IDEC, Hiroshima University)

1. Introduction in order to meet the following objectives:1) To

The backyard pig sector of the Philippines, analyze the demographic characteristics of pig
which consists of animal raisers with less than raisers;2) To identify the factors which prompt
100 sows or adult equivalent contributes 70% of the cooperative and non-cooperative backyard pig
the total domestic pork supply and 80% of the raisers to venture into this livestock activity;3)
national aggregate inventory (Tibayan 2003). To evaluate the problems encountered by the
However, this sector, with a total of 3.8 million backyard pig raisers and;4) To determine how a
direct dependents nationwide, is challenged by cooperative addresses these problems.
problems on limited access on scarce resources, Selection of study areas is based on coopera-
such as production inputs, technical and veteri- tive's presence and level of development in a local-
nary services, facilities, credit, and efficient mar- ity. In each study area, an average of 70-80% of
ket due to their small-scale operation. its registered households is involved in backyard
Costales' (2002) study on backyard pig rais- pig raising. Respondents from Barangay Rizal,
ers' production and market characteristics in the Lipa City (447 households) and Barangay Bigain,
rich pig-producing region of Southern Luzon re- San Jose (220 households) represent the samples
vealed that the access to these scarce resources with mixed cooperative and non-cooperative back-
for expanding smallholder pig production is un- yard pig raisers while those from Barangay
evenly distributed across locations (provinces) Sorosoro (483 households) and Barangay Dumuclay
and is not a function of the market forces alone. (423 households), Batangas City constitute the
According to him the presence of institutions like areas with pure cooperative and non-cooperative
cooperatives that directly link the producers to backyard pig raisers, respectively. A total of 124
the whole market chain is of equal importance to (86 cooperative and 38 non-cooperative) house-
expand their production and increase the profit. holds from these areas were randomly selected to
Thus, in order to develop the whole pig industry analyze the demographic characteristics of pig
of the Philippines, it is essential to address the raisers. Among them, 68 (34 cooperative and 34
different problems of the backyard pig sector non-cooperative) were interviewed to identify the
which plays a significant role in the country's reasons which prompt them to venture into pig
livestock industry. Hence, it is hypothesized that raising and to evaluate their measures to address
a direct linkage between backyard pig raisers and their respective problems. Thirty-four cooperative
cooperatives that truly adhere to principles of co- pig raisers were interviewed to determine the im-
operation is indispensable in addressing the pacts of cooperatives in addressing their various
former's various problems to develop the pig in- problems in their operations.
dustry in the regional as well as in the national
level. 2. Backyard pig raisers operation in Batangas
A field survey was conducted on September, province of Southern Luzon
2004 in different barangays (basic administrative 2.1. Characteristics of the pig raiser
unit in the Philippines) of Batangas province in Table 1 shows the demographic characteris-
order to test the validity of this hypothesis and tics of the raisers in the sampled households.

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Table 1 General characteristics of the backyard pig raisers

Majority of the raisers are those above 29 years 2.2. Reasons for engaging in pig raising
of age, with a more or less even distribution Table 2 shows the cooperative and non-
across sub-samples except for those aged 40-49 cooperative-raisers' reasons ranked based on their
who has highest at 30%. This is attributed to degree of significance. They primarily and almost
their limited opportunities for formal employ- equally regard pig raising as a potential income
ment in private or government offices which con- source capable of sustaining their children's edu-
sider those above 35 years of age as `over aged'. cation. Both groups' major buyers came from
Raisers who account for only 4% of the samples Metro Manila where pork has the greatest de-
are aged 20-29 and customarily work on firms or mand.
government institution with better compensa- Pigs' short cycled and litter-bearing traits
tions. are both groups' 2nd and 3rd important reasons,
Delgado's (2003) claim of low education of respectively. Gilt can be bred as early as its 8th
smallholder farmers from poor rural households month and farrows before reaching its first year
is also observed among the samples. Thirty-four while f attener can be marketed even before its
percent of them accomplished only primary level 6th month when it already weighs at least 70 kilo-
of education, which has at most 6 years of for- grams. Thus, return of investment is met fast.
mal education. They venture into pig raising as Pigs can also farrow as many as 5 times in the
their main source of living due to lack of qualifi- first two year of its sexual maturity and can de-
cations for formal employment in firms or gov- liver a minimum of 8 piglets under good condi-
ernment offices. The least involved (2%) are tions.
those with graduate programs who have wider Both groups are also prompted to raise pigs
opportunities for formal employment. due to its marketability at all stages. However,
Pig raising serves as primary income source cooperative raisers find this more appealing due
for 70% of sample household while the remaining to their wider selections of market for their ani-
samples venture on other non-farm activities. mals. They can sell the pigs in cooperative as
Most respondents from this former group have their immediate market channel and may still
also secondary income sources to further increase look for additional one if they want to but non-
their household income. cooperative raisers have to look by themselves or

Table 2 Reasons for engaging in backyard pig raising

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rely on middlemen's assistance for their pigs' coming transactions. On the other hand, coopera-
market. tive raisers most likely command higher prices
The two groups are almost equally prompted for their products because of the absence of mid-
by the potential use of pig wastes as fertilizer dlemen in the transactions. Cooperatives also
due to their nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium readily buy their members' pigs at a reasonable
contents which are essential for crop farming and price and sell the carcasses, and processed meat
algae raising in fishpond. like tocino and longanisa, which are the most
2.3. Problems of backyard pig raisers common varieties of sausages, to the public in
Expensive feeds:Table 3 shows the various their own meat shop.

problems common to both cooperative and non- Spread of disease:Both groups are nearly
cooperative pig raisers. Both are almost equally affected by spread of diseases which are induced
affected by problems on expensive feeds, which mainly by extreme proximity of farms with each
are attributed mainly to inflation in prices of other. However, these can be minimized up to a
both imported (US and Argentina soybean) and certain extent by a number of measures like
local feed ingredients like corn. Corn from Luzon maintenance of farm's cleanliness, observance of
and Mindanao has been speculated to be hoarded bio-security measures, and participation on effec-
due to its higher price when sold as feed ingredi- tive disease control and technical seminars con-
ents than as food for human. ducted by firms and government.
As a coping strategy, non-cooperative raisers Low animal performance:The two groups'
feed their pigs either with swamp cabbage problem on low performance of animals is caused
(Ipomea aquatica) and gabi (a tuber rich in en- basically by poor breeding practices which em-
ergy) or mash commercial feeds whose nutrient ploy inferior crossbreeds without records of their
content and prices are lesser than the palletized productive and reproductive performances. Im-
feeds. Cooperative raisers are indirectly protected proper breeding procedures like untimely breed-
from this problem through the refund given for ing of gilt or over-using of sows beyond its

patronizing members at the end of a year. breeding capacity can equally lead to poor per-
Low price per unit output:More non- formance of the resulting animals. As for solu-
cooperative raisers are affected by low price per tions, it is suggestive to purchase breeding stocks
unit output mainly due to the participation of from commercial farms which keep the pigs' pro-
middlemen who lowers the pigs' selling price to ductive and reproductive records. It is also helpful
favor the buyer who pays them (middlemen) for to have a readily available replacement for breed-
each pig he (buyer) buys. In order to cope, non- ers which manifest defects and other inferior
cooperative raisers build good rapport and rela- characteristics in itself and in its offsprings.
tionship with their clients to establish their own Inefficient marketing:Marketing of pigs is a
set of regular buyers, which in turn, will elimi- problem of non-cooperative raisers when they
nate the participation of middlemen in the forth- have inadequate number of buyers for their over-

Table 3 Problems encountered in backyard pig raising

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produced quantity of pigs. The longer the mar- ness activities of any of a credit, consumer, pro-
ketable pigs remain in the pen, the greater will ducer, marketing, and service cooperatives.
be their feed consumption and the corresponding Feeds sale:Feed sale is the cooperative's own
production cost. A marketable pig beyond 90 way of responding to the high prices of company-
kilograms generally gives a low price per unit of produced feeds. Cooperative-raisers patronize their
out put. On the other hand, cooperative members cooperative's feeds more than the company-
also experience this problem specially if the coop- produced feeds due to the incentives they get out
erative's marketing function is still underdevel- of buying the former. One incentive typical to all
oped as expected during the initial stage of its cooperatives is the patronage refund that repre-
operation. There are underdeveloped cooperatives, sents the members' share in the cooperative's
which may lack necessary equipment and facili- profit. The profit sharing is administered at the
ties like sanitary slaughterhouses, processing end of each year based on cooperative-raisers' pa-
plants, and storage facilities due to financial con- tronage of feeds in a given year. The more feeds
straints that interfere with the cooperative's mar- a member purchases, the greater his part in the
keting functions. profit sharing. The cash incentive awarded to the
Waste disposal:More non-cooperative raisers patronizing cooperative raisers makes the coop-
are affected by problems on waste disposal than erative feeds more economical than the company-
their cooperative counterparts. This is attributed manufactured ones.
to their limited access to waste management fa- Veterinary service:The free veterinary assis-
cilities like biogas and trainings on waste dis- tance extended by cooperatives to their members'
posal. They simply dig holes near the pen and animals with health problems is the second most
use some chemicals to minimize the foul odor. On sought cooperative services. The establishment of
the contrary, cooperative raisers are less affected laboratory tasked to diagnose animal diseases en-
by this problem due to the introduction of new ables veterinarians and farmers to maintain the
technology (biogas) and intensive campaigns of animals' good quality and institutes the rational
cooperatives on proper waste disposal methods as use of drugs to treat and prevent diseases. Other
part of the cooperative's commitment in main- veterinary assistance includes providing diagnos-
taining the cleanliness of the community where tic test for necropsy, bacterial isolation and iden-
cooperatives operate. tification, antibiotic sensitivity testing, f ecalysis,
2.4. Impacts of cooperatives on the problems of and quantitative of latoxin testing.
backyard pig raisers Technical training and seminar:Free train-
Table 4 shows the pig raising related-services ing and seminars for the cooperative's members
of a multipurpose cooperative and the number of are done on a regular basis. Cooperative's suppli-
cooperative-raiser respondents who benefit from ers of production inputs (ingredients, nutritional
such services. According to the Cooperative Code and veterinary supplies) conduct technical presen-
of the Philippines (Aralar 2004), a multi-purpose tations/seminars concerning proper feeds and
cooperative combines at least two or more busi- feeding, controlling diseases, proper waste dis-
posal, advance management practices and other
Table 4 Cooperative services and beneficiaries related topics. This technical presentation is fol-
lowed by the company's promotion of product
portfolio to convince the cooperative to include
their products as part of the organization's input
in producing its various product lines for its
members. This program can potentially deal with
problems related to poor animal performance,

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 〔240〕 農 林 業 問 題 研究(第158号 ・2005年6月)

disease control and issues on waste disposal. raising are greatly influenced by their demo-
Contract growing:The cooperative's contract graphic characteristics. It was found that major-
growing program (paiwi system) has been a ity of the backyard pig owners' age are above 30
good avenue to address a number of problems be- which, according to the employment customs in
setting the backyard pig raisers. Under this the Philippines, are already above the ideal age to
project, cooperative-raisers are given good means start a professional career either in the govern-
of livelihood by allowing them to raise animals ment or private institutions. This phenomenon,
with lesser capital. The association bears all re- coupled by the backyard pig raisers' low educa-
sponsibility for providing piglets and fatteners, tional background, makes it really hard for them
feeds, veterinary supplies, technical services and to qualify for jobs in formal sectors, which can
marketing of products. The member invests only potentially offer them higher income sources.
in utilities like water, electricity and labor. The Thus, a high percentage of the sampled backyard
cooperative and the member-raiser share in the pig raisers regard this small-scale livestock activ-
profit equally. Moreover, 50% of the feeds and ity as their primary source of income.
veterinary cost will be included in the computa- The determination of various factors, which
tion of the member's patronage refund allocation prompts the cooperative and non-cooperative re-
at the end of the year when the cooperative spondents shows that economic (financial) consid-
gained profits. Under this program, problems re- erations are their strongest drive for venturing
lated to expensive inputs, inefficient marketing to this small-scale backyard pig raising. Findings
and poor animal conditions can be addressed. reveal that this enterprise, as a potential income
Credit and loans:The extension of credit and source, is capitalizing in the pig's physiological
loans addresses the backyard raisers' problems and biological characteristics-short-cycled, litter-
related to expensive feeds and lack of liquidity, bearing, multi-stage marketability-and utility
which consequently hinder them to procure in- values.
puts and to make investments for their opera- Concerning the challenges of this enterprise,
tion's expansion. Those who pass the it was found out that cooperative and non-
cooperative's screening of credit application are cooperative pig raisers are subjected to the prob-
entitled to an expanded credit line. Under this lems common to small-scale production-limited
scheme, they can apply for loan specifically for access to scarce production inputs and technical
fattening or breeding programs with each having service like training/seminar for sound manage-
different loan ceiling. These loans are secured by ment;and inefficient marketing system-but with
collateral and are given in the form of feeds. different degrees of intensity. It can be implied
Both are payable in very affordable terms from from the results of the study that the causes of
five to six months after when pigs are ready to these problems can be traced from several factors.
be marketed. In addition, they can also borrow Expensive feeds are affected by political-economic
money for the construction of pigpens if the factors;middlemen-induced-low prices of output
member wishes to start the business. With these and inefficient marketing by socioeconomic fac-
credit provisions, they increase their access to tor;spread of diseases, low animal performance
scarce production inputs. and waste disposal by physical factors.
Ideally, cooperative, through its services of
3. Conclusion feeds sale, veterinary service, technical training
Backyard pig raising is a common economic and seminar, contract growing, and credit and
activity among households in the rural barangays loans, can potentially address these problems of
of Batangas province. Results reveal that involve- the backyard pig raisers;aid in their manage-
ment of the sampled owners in backyard pig ment activities and increase the profitability,

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both by decreasing the production cost and in- References

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