Elevate the magba-baboy

Come Saturday April 30, I hope to be in Rosales, Pangasinan where I’ll be giving a lecture on my experiences as a backyard hog raiser as well as current information I’ve gathered relevant to hog raising. The event in Rosales, Pangasinan will be the first BMeg Fiestahan after the two-year ban on mass gatherings and community lockdowns caused by COVID-19. What I’ve come to realize is that things have drastically and dramatically changed even in the hog-raising sector.

Even before humans recognized the threat of COVID-19, hog raisers were already confronted by ASF or African swine fever that has reportedly wiped out approximately 40 to 60 percent of the pig population of the country between 2019 to 2021. Worse than COVID, ASF has become extremely difficult to put under control outside of the traditional culling and depopulation of infected stock within a one-kilometer radius. Yet we are nowhere near eradicating the ASF virus in the Philippines. Yes, there are vaccines but so far, the trial results leave much to be desired.

Given the nature of the virus, the only thing authorities can do is undertake “delayed response,” meaning they come in only after all hell has broken loose, depopulate and then declare the area a Red Zone until such a time (two to three months after) that no trace of the virus can be found. After that they can or will attempt to introduce “sentinel” pigs to live test for survival. If the sentinels make it, then the area is classified as a Pink Zone.

I personally went through all of that when my backyard hog raising hobby was hit by ASF, lost 88 pigs of different ages, declared a Red Zone, shut down, disinfected several times over three months and last Monday, one of our trial sows provided by Lipa City gave birth to 11 piglets. This all sounds good but in reality: “This is only a test.”

Here is why: After consulting with experts in the field, the consensus is that anyone planning to get back into hog raising after an ASF hit will have to start up at a remote location or area away from human traffic or animal paths as part of a higher level requirement for bio-security and infection controls. Commercial operators have now split up their operations into different farms in different localities where ASF presence is low or none at all. Their breeding farm, piglet and grow out, and commercial finishing are in three to four different towns per province to ensure continuity of business if any of the farms get hit by ASF.

Anyone who decides to get back into backyard or commercial hog raising has to redesign or reconstruct his facilities into ASF-resilient or ASF-proof facilities. That means that the traditional concrete box – concrete floored – open type pig pens with tin roofs are no longer practical or safe. The rough and cheap must now be fenced several meters away from structures, easy to clean, screened to be insect and rodent proof, featuring drainage that leads to “septic tanks,” plumbing and clean running water, preferably commercially treated instead of ground or deep well water that could be contaminated due to human or animal presence nearby.

These facilities feature extremely STRICT bio-security protocols where you are required to shower, disinfect and then wear PPEs and footwear to get inside. Today’s ASF resilient piggeries are no longer open to the public or for public viewing, where friends and buyers are welcome to view the animals or the farm, because it has been determined that the primary and fastest way that ASF spreads and contaminate farms is through human contact. Viajeros or buyers who visit different piggeries and backyard farms have been pinpointed as the number one spreader or transporter of the ASF virus. Most farms no longer allow delivery trucks with animal feeds into their property and sacks are lightly sprayed with disinfectants before being brought to the facility.

In one farm I know, helpers are not allowed to leave the premises and have to stay in on a monthly basis. Similar to COVID quarantine, the helpers cannot go directly to the piggery area unless they have showered and disinfected all the garments and footwear worn outside the farm. With all that work and investment, the hog raiser still has to scrounge around in order to find good or quality sows or piglets to raise because the government did not invest in breeding farms and relied on the private sector.

Ironically, “mag ba-baboys” of the Philippines lose so much due to the traditional system of selling pigs and pork. Almost all the raisers depend on viajeros and middlemen who insist on seeing the pigs, touching the pigs and God-forbid end up infecting the pigs. After that raisers are subjected to the underpricing or “pang ba-barat” by the middlemen or viajero. The hog raisers take all the risks, do 99 percent of the work, but middlemen get majority of the profit.

This system needs to stop, and this could be done if the DA and DTI got their heads together and initiated local and national markets for hog raisers where there is a daily official farm gate price nationwide. Next, provide retail outlets for backyard raisers in the barangay, municipal or city markets. This reduces the travel and distance from farm to market and boosts local business. It will effectively localize the supply and demand for pork in LGUs, add to the income of LGUs while the big or commercial farms can supply urban areas.

But this can only happen if the DA and DTI guide and assists hog raisers towards becoming hog raisers and retailers as well. There are currently too many restrictions and rules as well as ignorance on the matter and this needs to stop.

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