Davao Pig Raisers Quitting Fast
PHILIPPINES - About 30 percent of backyard hog raisers in Davao have folded and a lot more are expected to call it quits due to rising costs.According to GMA News, Davao Hog Raisers Association chairman, Teresita Pascual, said that losing more backyard hog raisers is alarming because they constitute 70 per cent of the whole industry in the city.
She said other backyard raisers are holding on to their last stock, while some of them have sold off their remaining sows to send their children to nursing school. "They told us that it’s a better investment because their children will also earn P100,000 each month when they go abroad," she said.
Ms. Pascual said the backyard raisers could not cope with the expenses of renovating the pens, building sprinkling systems, and improving the ventilation to prevent heat stroke and diseases among the hogs caused by the intense heat. "It used to be that hog raisers allot one square meter per head; now, we have to double that," she said.