ANTIQUE, May 20, 2022 – The Department of Agriculture (DA) Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program granted 30 piglets worth Php 174,000 to Pangalcagan Farmers Association (PFA) and Talisay Rice Farmers Association (TRFA) in Bugasong, Antique on May 17, 2022.

Bugasong, as the 8^th most populous municipality in the province of Antique, is the newly-identified priority area in 2022. With the rising demand for pork due to the growing population and market expansion outside the region, the recipients proposed a hog fattening project to boost the production of meat in the locality. To note, the entire Visayas Region is classified as a green zone considering that it remains free from the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus.

Of the 280 members of PFA, 15 farmers practicing the integrated farming system received 15 piglets under the FY 2022 Hog Fattening Enterprise with Vegetable Production Project worth Php 1,605,900. Under the same project, the association will also be receiving hybrid gilts and boars, feeds, drugs and biologics, meat shop materials and equipment, pinakbet seeds, farm tools and materials, and organic fertilizers.

The farmer-members have a combined 30 square meter (sqm) land area, each with 2sqm, to utilize for backyard hog fattening. Further, the housing materials were shouldered by the individual beneficiaries, and the housing was built through dagyaw or bayanihan system, as their counterpart.

The association agreed that the FA officers will be the first-in-line beneficiaries, requiring each to give back to the association the capital of the piglet in monetary form. Piglets were bought at Php 5,800 per head, thus, recipients will provide the same amount to buy another stock for the next project grantees.

Ms. Merlinda Legaspi, President of PFA, considered the stocks as starting capital and echoed the gratitude she felt from her members, “Nagapasalamat ako sa SAAD kay isa kami sa napilian sang programa kag nahatagan kami 15 ka piglets kag may palaabuton kami nga lima ka nayon kag isa ka takal para ma breeding” (We are grateful because we were chosen as recipients of the SAAD Program. We received 15 piglets and are bound to receive 5 gilts and 1 boar for breeding under the same project).

Meanwhile, 15 out of 87 members of TRFA, accepted 15 piglets for fattening. These members were selected based on their capacity to raise hogs, buy feeds once the supply runs out, and put up pig pens out of their own pockets.

To ensure the quality of the stocks, Dr. Pacifico Lumawag, Chairperson of the Inspection Committee for Livestock inspected the piglets prior to their delivery. The member-beneficiaries were also provided training on swine production and vegetable production as preparation.

The beneficiaries will market their stocks once they weigh more than 80 kilograms, anticipated this month of August and September, within their community and neighboring barangays.

The distribution was facilitated by SAAD Regional Technical Staff Reah Garduce and Area Coordinator Jessa Mae Gono, in coordination with the Bugasong local government unit. ###

Writer: Cedie Bataga, SAAD 6 Information Officer