February 7, 2022

Philippines' agriculture firms sign up for government swine repopulation efforts

The Philippines' Department of Agriculture said it has inked a partnership with private firms that look to join the country's swine repopulation efforts after swine numbers drastically declined following African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks, BusinessWorld reported.

On February 5, 2022, a new a 5,000-sow level breeder nucleus farm was launched in Nueva Ecija province, Central Luzon, by JG Agroventures and Pig Improvement in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture.

William Dar, Philippines' Agriculture Secretary, said the government has committed PHP 80 million (~US$1.5 million; PHP 10 = US$0.19) to the project.

The facility will produce piglets to be sold and distributed to commercial and clustered backyard swine farmers in Luzon.

JG Agroventures applied for a PHP 2.5 billion (~US$48.6 million) bank loan for the project from with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The Department of Agriculture will also partner with other agribusiness companies such as Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare, and Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines to further boost the domestic swine industry.

The Department of Agriculture aims to produce 440,563 breeders and 10.5 million finishers by 2023. An allocation of PHP 800 million (~US$15.5 million) has been set aside as loans for backyard and semi-commercial raisers.

The Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines have committed PHP 30 billion (~US$584 million) and PHP 12 billion (~US$233 million) respectively for lending to commercial swine farmers in area free of ASF.

-      BusinessWorld.