The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) has recently registered Sunjin Farm Solutions Corporation as the new producer of live hogs in Bugallon, Pangasinan to increase the pork supply in the country.
With the project cost of Php91.49 million, the firm will engage in the breeding, gestation, farrowing, lactation, weaning, and growth of market hogs. The project will revitalize the country’s pork supply which suffered a deficit due to the disruption brought by the African Swine Fever (ASF).
“This project is significant in making up for the losses in pork production because of the ASF. The Sunjin Farm Solution Corporation’s project will ultimately contribute to the recovery of the country’s local hog industry in the coming years,” Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said.
At the national level, the project – with the annual capacity to produce 1,775 metric tons (MT) of live hogs (equivalent to 1,508 MT of pork) – can supply the 1.25 percent of the Department of Agriculture’s pork supply deficit of 120,889 MT for this year, contributing to attaining the recovery of the local hog industry.
While at the regional level, the hog production in Ilocos Region (Region I) can spike by 2.93 percent (from 57,660 MT to 59,398 MT) during the first year of the project’s operation. At full capacity, from 2026 and beyond, the firm can annually produce 1,775 MT of live hogs equivalent to a three percent increase of the projected hog production in the region.
Significantly, the project will jumpstart the hog repopulation to be supplied within Ilocos Region and other nearby red zone areas.
Endorsed by the Department of Agriculture (DA), the project is in line with the Department’s Bantay ASF4 sa Barangay (BABay ASF) program. Also, it shores up the DA’s recently-launched Plant, Plant, Plant 2.0 Program, which continuously aspires for intensified local food production to increase local food sufficiency and enhance resilience to natural calamities, including ASF.
With strict biosecurity measures support, Sunjin will operate using a semi-conventional type of housing wherein some houses are installed with curtain winches, cool pads, blower fans, and an automated feeder line.
On the economic side, the project is estimated to increase domestic output by Php563.15 million. Notably, the firm will provide awareness seminars to farmers on disease prevention every quarter. Particularly, the seminar topics will depend on the need of the community (e.g., ASF Awareness Program).
In addition, the company will also donate organic fertilizer to rice and palay farmers in the area. This will help farmers save around Php100 per kilogram of organic fertilizer.
According to the firm, they will grow their hogs free from antibiotics and hormonal drugs, which is aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation to reduce the use of these drugs in food-producing animals. With such, Sunjin aims to minimize the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animals contributing to the rising threat of antibiotic resistance.
In 2020, the Philippines ranked as the 14th largest pork producer in the world and the second largest producer in Southeast Asia, next to Vietnam