How to Start a Piggery Business in the Philippines

In the Philippines, most businesses in the agricultural parts of the provinces involve raising pigs. While some families do it for a source of food, most venture further and expand by establishing facilities to run a large-scale piggery business.

Filipinos are no stranger to eating meat, pork is one of our common staples of food along with rice. Pork has its qualities in that it is affordable, tasty, and can be cooked in a variety of ways. It is in these reasons why setting up a piggery business is a viable and profitable venture that make your return of investment worth it.

Before considering starting up a piggery business, however, it is important to know what you will be needing to do to succeed in this line of work. That is why this article will provide the information you need to know when you start up a piggery of your own.

1. Know the risks

It is important to know the inherent risks in your investment in raising pigs before thinking about the profit you will rake in. Pigs are vulnerable to many types of diseases which can obtained from dirty living conditions, contaminated feed, and being close to other pigs during transportation. Most of the time they are slaughtered to save the others from being contaminated.

Another risk you should note is the typhoons that visit as every year as they wreck farms often and destroy livestock.

Lastly, keep in mind that because we eat these pigs we have standards on the quality of the livestock that is raised and as such, their feeds cost are expensive.

2. Determine your set up

A piggery business can go two ways depending on which one sounds preferable to you.

The first method is procuring the pigs when they are young, at about 12 to 20 kg in weight. You then sell them when they reach 90 kg. A starter pig costs approximately P1,600 to P2,000 and will take usually three months to feed until it can be sold.

The second method involves pig breeding, by purchasing a sow that usually costs about P12,000, which will give birth 4 to 6 months later.

The first method is more popular due to the shorter time it takes to sell the pig compared to a year of pig breeding. The important thing to note is there are less risks of loss in acquiring starter pigs instead of pig breeding, so you should keep that in mind in making decisions.

3. Submit the business requirements

Now that you know what kind of set up you will take, the next step would be legalizing your business by providing the required documents:

• Business name registration – You can register by heading to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) office that is near your proposed location, your business name is permitted for up to 5 years.
• Barangay clearance – You can get this the nearest office where your piggery will be located.
• Mayor’s Permit, License, and Sanitary permit – Acquired by visiting your local government. License and permit must be renewed annually.
• Tax Identification Number (TIN) – Can be obtained at your local Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
• Environmental Compliance Certificate – Secure your certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)

4. Adhere to the location requirements

Because piggeries involve environmental waste, they are to follow these location requirements to consider when evaluating an area:

1. The piggery must be located outside the proximity of urban areas
2. The piggery must be located within minimum of a 25-meter radius away from sources of drinking water
3. Medium and large-scale piggeries must be located at least 1,000 meters away from residential, industrial, institutional, and commercial areas.
4. Dry lot area must meet these specifications:

• 86m – 2.79m per sow
• 74m – 1.12m per head of pig under 100 pounds
• 12m – 1.86m per head of fattening pig from 100 to 200 pounds
• 32m – 3.25m per boar

5. Provide comfortable housing and feeding schedule

The Philippines provide a bad weather climate for livestock, as typhoons ravage provincial areas. Thus, the construction of the housing is important, opt for concrete flooring to keep away bacteria but be careful to not make the flooring rough and risk wounding the foot of the pigs which can be prone to infection.

Remember to put up an isolated room for infected pigs as well to reduce contamination. To lessen the chance of flooding, locate their pens in an inclined slope. The housing should include their feeding and drinking trough which can be fashioned from old rubber tires but concrete would be a more suitable option.

Your piglets will grow in 3 to 4 months to be eligible for selling and between this time It is important to give them high quality feed. A new ration should be introduced for each growth stage for a smooth transition in the feeding behavior for the pig. Typically, a one week transition is enough.