Philippines to boost hog supply with vaccination programme

The Philippines will overcome its slow hog production by a PHP40-million vaccination programme and PHP50 million for swine restocking in some regions, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Furthermore, the DA also disbursed PHP20 million as feed assistance for hog growers.

Currently, the Philippine hog sector lacks 1,584 head daily to meet the strong local demand.

Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap said the DA has already spent PHP30 million to vaccinate 213,382 sows.

Under the swine vaccination programme, commercial raisers will be allowed to vaccinate their stocks while backyard farmers will be given access to vaccines.

Despite a slow growth in the first quarter, the livestock industry grossed PHP42.1 billion at current prices, which represents an increase of 7.63 percent from last year's record of PHP39.11 billion.

US$1 = PHP43.93 as of May 29, 2008