Hog production in Negros Occidental decreased by 4.79 percent in 2023 due to the effects of African swine fever (ASF) and hog cholera, figures of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released on Wednesday, February 28, showed.
Last year, the province produced only 58,182.10 metric tons (MT) of hogs compared to 61,109.27 MT in 2022.
This brought a reduction of 2.62 percent in the total livestock production of Negros Occidental, including hog, carabao, cattle and goat, from 76,640.77 MT in 2022 to 74,633.05 MT in 2023.
“The decline in production for swine due to the effects of hog cholera and ASF contributed to the decrease,” PSA-Negros Occidental said in its annual livestock and poultry situation report.
On the other hand, carabao, cattle, and goat production increased by 4.39 percent, 11.77 percent, and 1.4 percent, respectively.
In 2023, carabao production totaled 8.921.51 MT, from 8,546.24 MT in 2022; cattle, 4,810.53 MT, from 4,303.81 MT; and goat, 2,718.91 MT, from 2,681.44 MT.
In terms of production distribution, swine contributed the most with 78 percent, followed by carabao, 12 percent; cattle, 6 percent; and goat, 4 percent.
Data further showed that swine inventory in January also declined by 16.21 percent to only 413,217 heads compared to 493,152 heads in January 2023.
For the same period, a decrease in inventory of carabao was noted at 6.23 percent, from 91,437 heads to 85,743 heads and also of goat, from 215,154 heads to 208,876 heads.
The 2023 data on poultry indicated an increase in chicken production by 14.42 percent, with a total of 40,350.82 MT, from 35,266,71 MT in 2022.
Duck production went down by 2.52 percent, from 752.61 percent in 2022 to 733.65 MT last year.
Both chicken and duck egg production also decreased by 0.82 percent and 2.47 percent, respectively.
According to the PSA, production data of livestock and poultry were generated based on the results of the Commercial Livestock and Poultry Survey and the Backyard Livestock and Poultry Survey conducted every quarter.*PNA