Kidapawan City – The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and the Provincial Government of North Cotabato have identified 20 secluded villages which have not been affected by the African Swine Fever as Pilot Areas of a massive hog production program to address the national shortage.
Employing the “Islands of Hope” Strategy which would identify bio-secure communities, MinDA will assist Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco is availing of hog production loan fund from the Development Bank of the Philippines.
The Barangay Government or a farmers’ association will be the beneficiary of the loan fund which had been committed by DBP President Emmanuel G. Herbosa during our meeting in Makati City last week.
The “Islands of Hope” Strategy will implement a communal hog-raising scheme which I designed previously where a common service hog raising facility called “Hogstel” will be used in breeding and raising hogs owned by individual farmers.
Under the “Hogstel” Concept, a bio-secure facility will be made available to the farmers where they will be allocated pens to raise hogs supervised by animal health experts and veterinarians.
The farmer-hog raiser will pay fees for the use of the “Hogstel” to be deducted from the sale of his hogs.
As the first step, village officials and farming families in the “Islands of Hope” communities will undergo orientation and training on bio-security to be conducted by a MinDA team to be headed by former Agriculture Asst. Secretary Dr. Enrico Garzon.
The bio-security measures will include closing the “islands of Hope” Villages to the entry of processed pork products which had been suspected of causing the spread of the ASF in remote areas of the country.
Dr. Garzon, who, along with key officials of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), led the DA team which contained the 2018 Bird Flu Outreak in Pampanga in just two months, helped design the “Hogstel Concept” when I was Governor of North Cotabato.
Gov. Catamco has designated my eldest daughter, Dr. Maria Krista Piñol-Solis, an elected board members of Cotabato, as the focal person of the province for the program.
The identification and validation of the 20 Pilot Villages for the Islands of Hope Hogstel Program will start this week all of which will raise breeders to produce piglets for fattening in local farms.
Actual farm production will start in 18 months during which time the provincial government will initiate steps to establish its own feed milling and production facility and abattoir.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(File photos downloaded from public website show hog-raising facilities while the last photo shows me with Gov. Catamco and Board Member Dr. Ma. Krista Piñol-Solis taken after the dialogue on the “Islands of Hope” Hogstel Project.)
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