By By Julio Yap Jr.
Backyard pig raising could be a profitable venture and a source of additional income for farmers. Aside from providing a source of additional income, backyard pig raising only requires an affordable amount of capital and can provide a decent profit in a short span of time.
Pig raising is a profitable home venture if you have a backyard to spare in your home or in your farm. Pigs can be used for many different purposes—meat from the hog can be sold locally or on the market; pork meat can be processed into various preparations; or the animals can be sold live to those who are into the business of selling “lechon” or roasted pig.
In an effort to provide opportunities for those who want to venture into backyard pig raising, an urban farm school has tapped its available resources to create a program that promotes pig farming.
Senator Cynthia Villar says it is proven that livestock raising can provide a year-round source of income which could supplement the income of farmers. At the Villar SIPAG Urban Farm School, participants were trained on how to organically raise pigs from piglet to maturity.
In partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) of the Region 4A office of the Department of Agriculture, the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) conducted a training program on sustainable pig farming.
Initially, about 50 urban farmers coming from the cities of Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Muntinlupa, and from the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, were trained on how to organically raise pigs from piglets to maturity, said Senator Cynthia Villar, who is the director of Villar SIPAG.“It has been proven that livestock raising provides farmers a year-round source of income that supplements their income from farm harvest. We partnered with experts so that our farmers will be trained on pig farming.”
Villar noted that more than 65 percent of hog raisers are backyard hog farmers, and that many farmers go into hog raising or pig farming because it only requires a small amount of capital.
The training sessions were held every Tuesday for a period of 20 weeks at the seven-hectare Villar SIPAG Urban Farm School, which is located at the boundary of Las Piñas and Bacoor City. In the program, participants were also givenhands-on training regarding the sustainable way of preparing organic feeds for pigs.
Since it started in September 2015, the Villar SIPAG Urban Farm School has already conducted different training sessions regarding the various aspects pertaining to agriculture for farmers coming from Metro Manila and nearby provinces. The topics included vegetable production, mushroom production, livestock and poultry production, sweet corn production, orchid cultivation, bamboo propagation, cut-flower production, and beekeeping.
Only last July, the Villar SIPAG opened another urban farm school in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan to cater to the training needs of farmers from the different provinces of Central Luzon.
For more information, visit ATI and Villar SIPAG.
This appeared in Agriculture Monthly’s October 2016 issue.
zamboanga city po ako..may sarili po akong tangkal at septik tank at hindi po mabaho malinis po. my alaga po ako isang baboy inahin dun lng po ako kumikita pag kaanak nya. sa urban po ako nkatira my asawa na po wlang trabaho po ako..may isang kapit bahay po ngreklamo sa akin tapos gusto nya po ipatanggal ang alaga kong inahin.paano po wla na po akong pgkakitaan pandemic ngayon..ang kapit bahay nmin na iingit kc wla din xang work hindi ko lam ano po yong prblema nya sa amin parang personal n po xang galit..kc ngcheck nman po dto yong tga brangay ok nman po pasado ..gsto ko lng po humingi ng referal na pwd ako mg alaga ng baboy o my batas o livelhood program about dto po.sana maam villar humingi ako ng advice sa inyo po
Hello po! Baka po pwede magbigay ng certificate yung barangay niyo na pwede kayo mag-alaga ng inahin. Good luck!