Prov'l vet office to train Banaue hog raisers

By Daniel B. Codamon

Wednesday 13th of February 2013

BANAUE, Ifugao, Feb. 13 (PIA) -- Fifty hog raisers here requested the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVET) to conduct skills training on bio-gas production, swine management, organic feed production, and their environmental impact.

Provincial veterinarian James Gopeng scheduled the training on February 26-28.

Municipal Agriculturist Marivic Navan said that the request was made because hog raising is an activity now popular to many of the households in the municipality as an alternative source of income due to the demand for hogs in the local market and its use for cultural practices.

The training will enable hog raisers know proper management to minimize financial losses caused by diseases and poor management practices.

Navan added that there is a need to provide hog raisers bio-gas project skills training in the operation and maintenance of the facility to derive maximum benefit and later on replicate and extend it to other hog raisers interested and who appreciate the technology to make the endeavor income generating.

The municipal government has accessed funds for pioneering the bio-gas utilization from the manure of pigs to augment the use of liquefied petroleum gas which is very expensive and environmentally hazardous and firewood for domestic cooking that demands cutting trees which is disadvantageous in the sustainability of the irrigation systems of the rice terraces.

The three-day skills training will include lecture on basic information on the operation and management of the bio-gas facility, proper swine management and disease control, actual demonstration on swine management like the preparation of home-made fermented feeds as organic food for the hogs, and visitation of bio-gas facility sites.(JDP/DBC-PIA CAR, Ifugao)