Opportunities In ASF Crisis: Modernizing Hog Industry

The dreaded African Swine Fever (ASF) which devastated the country’s hog farmers, hurting the backyard raisers most, could yet usher in the transformation of the country’s hog industry into a major economic growth contributor.
On Friday, I will present to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and the officials of the National Livestock Program headed by Undersecretary DV Savellano the Community Hogstel Program which will address issues which contributed to the spread of ASF all over the country.
The Community Hogstel Program will be spearheaded by the DA which will establish the facilities, the Local Government Units which will provide the area, the hog farmers who will be the stakeholders and a management team which will run and manage the operations.
The modern, bio-secure and self-sustaining hog breeding, growing and processing facility with in-house feed mils will be established near the production areas of feed materials like Corn, Sorghum, Soybeans and Copra Meal (or Oil Palm Kernel).
This will ensure that the feeds will be fresh and free from possible contamination which could occur during the transport of commercial feeds.
All hog farmers affected and devastated by the ASF will be the core members of an association or cooperative who will receive support from the Repopulation Program of the DA/NLP.
The program will see the end of backyard hog farming because hog farmers will now become stakeholders of the Community Hogstel Facility and will earn dividends from the net earnings every year.
Here are the other benefits of this program:
1. Community Hogstel Program will end Swill-Feeding, a common practice among backyard hog raisers which led to the spread of the ASF;
2. Production Cost will be greatly reduced because feed materials such as Corn, Sorghum, Soybeans and others will come from the nearby farms and processed in the in-house feed mill and served fresh to the hogs. This will also benefit grains farmers because they have a ready market for their produce;
3. Meat Quality will be greatly improved because all hog farmers will be using the same breed fed with the same feeds and they will get greater value for their investments because only finished or processed products will come out of the facility;
4. Conflicts arising from the establishment of hog farms in populated areas will end while the problems while wastes will instead be used as organic fertilizer for farmers growing the grains for feeds;
5. The Community Hogstel Program will open up investment opportunities even for corporate and overseas workers and will expectedly result in the massive growth of the hog industry.
When I presented this concept to the hog farmers who came to seek my help Friday, they all loved the idea and expressed hope that the DA Secretary will approve the Community Hogstel Program.
Knowng the mindset of Sec. Laurel and the NLP officials, I am confident that they will appreciate this proposal.
This is a classic example of finding opportunities in the face of crisis.
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