Philippines’ head count on hogs remained on a downward trend at the start of October as production further declined in the third quarter, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The PSA reported that the country’s swine inventory stood at 9.87 million heads as of Oct. 1,2021 down by 12.4 percent from the 11.27 million heads in the same period in 2020.
Swine population in both backyard farms and commercial farms decreased by 8.2 percent and 21.8 percent, respectively, the PSA said.
Of the total swine population, 72.1 percent were raised in backyard farms while the remaining 27.9 percent were from commercial farms.
Western Visayas recorded the highest hog population with 1.19 million heads.
This was followed by Central Visayas with 1.14 million heads and Northern Mindanao with 1.09 million heads.
The three regions account for 34.7 percent of the country’s total swine inventory.
Meanwhile, total hog production was estimated at 418,074 metric tons, 17.8 percent lower than the 508,906 MT liveweight output in the same quarter of 2020.
The PSA reported that 11 regions in the country posted lower hog production, with Central Luzon recording the largest decline at 52.3 percent to 26,665 MT.
Based on the latest African Swine Fever zoning map of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the majority of provinces in Central Luzon remained in the red zone or remain infected with ASF.
In contrast, Calabarzon was the top producer of hogs during the quarter with a liveweight production of 52,480 MT. This was followed by Northern Mindanao and Western Visayas, with 51,779 MT and 50,927 MT, respectively.
The three regions collectively shared 37.2 percent of the country’s total hog production.
Moreover, the average farmgate price of hogs upgraded for slaughter was P151.85 per kilo, liveweight.
This was 38.9 percent higher than the previous year’s same quarter average farmgate price of P109.35 per kilo, liveweight.
With additional report: Catherine Talavera, The Philippine Star
Image sources: The Philippine Star, CNN Philippines
