March 27, 2023

More than nine million pigs recorded in Colombia last year

In 2022, a total of 9,658,204 pigs were recorded in Colombia, of which 59% corresponded to animals originating from 'technified' production, 17% from commercial industrial farms, 14% from commercial family farms and 10% from backyard farms.

The departments with the highest concentration of pigs were Antioquia, Valle del Cauca and Meta, which together accounted for almost 50% of Colombia's pigs.

Technified production, which was the most representative with 5,710,266 animals, consisted of 224,040 breeding sows, 36,549 replacement females, 3,689 breeding boars and 5,445,979 nursery and finishing pigs.

A total of 192,673 pig farms were registered, with 0.4% being of technified production, 2.1% from commercial industrial production, 18.6% from commercial family production and 78.9% from backyard production.

Although backyard farms (152,069) make up the largest number of farms, the number of pigs recorded was very low (1,011,131 animals) compared to the inventory of pigs housed in technified farms (5,710,266 animals), which represent the smallest number of farms (782).

The results of the survey reveal a 5% increase in the number of technified farms compared to those recorded in 2021 (745).

Figures showed increases of 1.3% in the number of technified breeding sows and 7.5% in the number of breeding boars, which is in line with the increase in pork production in 2022.

One of the most noteworthy indicators is the 26.4% reduction in the number of backyard pigs, from 1,374,296 animals in 2021 to 1,011,131 in 2022, hinting at the increased formalisation of the pig farming industry.

- Pig333