The Province of Negros Occidental has a production surplus of some 500 hogs per day or 15,000 hogs per month, allowing it to ship out pigs to Luzon and other markets with a supply deficit mainly due to the African swine fever (ASF) scare.

Dr. Renante Decena, the provincial veterinarian, said in a statement on Friday while the local daily requirement is only 1,000 to 1,500 slaughtered hogs, raisers produce more than what is needed by Negrense consumers.

He noted that other provinces are now slowing down the shipment of live pigs to Luzon while some are even planning to temporarily stop shipping out amid apprehensions that local supply may dwindle.

Meanwhile, Negros Occidental was able to ship at least 708 heads of slaughtered hogs to Luzon and Visayas from February 1 to 7 alone aside from the 6,322 heads shipped in January.

Decena said to maintain the surplus status, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) is looking at infusing breeder gilts and piglets plus artificial insemination breeding to attain a growth rate of 15 percent annually.

With the declining trend in local hog production in the last two years, the province aims to sustain its surplus status this year, he added.

Based on the Livestock and Poultry Situationer report, the PVO noted a drop of 9.44 percent in the province’s hog population between 2016 and 2020.

In 2016, there were 520,114 heads, higher than 518,273 in 2017. The hog population recovered in 2018 when the province was able to produce 520,737 heads.

However, it again decreased to 486,129 and 470,979 heads in 2019 and 2020, respectively, posting a hog population decrease of 3.12 percent in the last two years.

Decena said some backyard raisers have reduced production because the buying live weight price of PHP70 to PHP80 per kilo was lower than the production cost of PHP85 to PHP90 per kilo.

In Negros Occidental, 85 percent of the overall hog production comes from backyard raisers while the remaining 15 percent accounts for commercial production. (PNA)