Socio-economic Benefits of Raising 3 Heads Grower Pigs Fed with Commercial Feeds Mixed with “Ubbak” By Selected Swine Raisers of Sitios Banig, Shamolog, and Tabangaoen in La Trinidad

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the socio-economic benefits of raising 3 head grower pigs fed with commercial feeds mixed with “ubbak by swine raisers in sitios Banig, Shamolog and Tabangaoen in La Trinidad, Benguet. A total of 6 heads of households served as respondents in the study. The data was gathered using survey questionnaires as well as personal observation. Results show that 50% finished elementary school, one (17%) finished high school, one (17%) finished vocational and one (17%) obtain a college degree. Most of them (83%) have 5-10 family members and 67% still have children being sent to school. With their lack of formal education, 50% of the respondents’ main source of income was from doing paid daily labor in building construction. The other half includes a weaver, an electrician and a school teacher. Of these, 67% earn a monthly income within the lower bracket ranging from Php 5,000.00 to 15,000 only. Results also show that one of the respondents can be considered new to swine raising while the rest have been doing this for 6 to 20 years. Aside from their experience and in order to further increase their chances of success with the endeavor, they all attended appropriate seminars on production, including nutrition, feeding and breeding. They practiced mixed feeding using 6 kg “ubbak” or vegetable trimmings in the diet in addition to 0.5 to 3 kg commercial feeds. This resulted in the average daily gain (ADG) of the animals to be within the acceptable range which is 600-650 grams. However, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was acceptable only for the pigs of Respondent V considering that the accepted FCR for a fattener is at 3.0 or less. All other pigs gave FCRs over 3.0 and are considered to be less efficient in converting feed to flesh. Socio-economic Benefits of Raising 3 Heads Grower Pigs Fed with Commercial Feeds Mixed with “Ubbak” By Selected Swine Raisers of Sitios Banig, Shamolog, and Tabangaoen in La Trinidad, Benguet/ BORDA, CHRISTOPHER B. June 2016 Results also show that all the respondents had higher labor cost compared to their gross income, which means that they did not earn any income after operational and labor cost were deducted from the gross sales of stock. In conclusion, raising three heads grower pigs bring no economic benefit since there is a negative profit. Therefore, no money was raised to buy new stocks or to support household expenses in this kind of operation. However, there are social benefits in this activity since all members of the family became aware of the production process through their direct involvement in feeding and taking care of the pigs. This came with a heightened sense of responsibility.