ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE, May 27, 2022 – The Department of Agriculture-Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program delivered Php 807,965.00 worth of Swine Dispersal and Swine Raising Project FY 2022 to three farmers’ associations in Zamboanga del Norte.

The Gatas Farmers Association with 45 members in the municipality of Kalawit received one boar, three gilts, and 71 bags of feeds; San Isidro Farmers Association with 135 members in Sergio Osmeña received three gilts, six piglets, and 108 bags of feeds; while Sto. Niño Women’s Association with 16 members in Polanco received three gilts, 5 piglets, and 108 bags of feeds. The piglets are intended for fattening while the gilts and boar are for dispersal. The project benefitted 196 swine raisers in the province.

Amid the threat of the African Swine Fever, the Zamboanga Peninsula maintained its ASF-green zone status because of the DA Region 9’s commitment, in cooperation with the local government agency, to combat the illegal and undocumented transportation of live pigs, pork meat, and its by-products.

Table 1. Distribution of Swine Project inputs to three FAs

The first batch of interventions was distributed to 21 selected first-in-line individual members. The selection of the recipients was based on the farmers’ experience in hog raising and the availability of pigpens.

They also implemented a different sharing scheme where all the FA members and the association as a whole will benefit from the project.

The three FAs implement a roll-over scheme where the first-in-line beneficiaries shall give their offspring to the next-in-line members for the sustainability of the project.

For the Swine Dispersal Project of Gatas FA, every time the gilts deliver their offspring, two of the piglets will be dispersed to other members who did not receive the intervention until 45 of them own a production.

Meanwhile the Sto. Niño Women’s Association and San Isidro FA implemented the same sharing scheme in a dispersal project where 30% of the offspring will go to the recipient of the gilt, 50% will be given to the other members while the remaining 20% will be for the associations’ fund.

The San Isidro FA President Welijado Gornes expressed his gratitude as the association is a newly-identified partner of the SAAD Program, “I am very grateful that SAAD was able to reach us and provide us with this project that will surely assist us in uplifting our lives. We will work hard to make sure that these piglets and gilts we received will double or triple their quantity when you come back here.”

The Department of Agriculture hopes to increase the supply of hog production in the province to help decrease the market prices of pork and live pigs. ###

Writer: Aimee Lou D. Madjus, Information Officer I