The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved the application of Sunjin Farm Solutions Corporation as new producer of live hogs in Bugallon, Pangasinan.
With a project cost of P91.49 million, Sunjin will engage in the breeding, gestation, farrowing, lactation, weaning, and grow hogs. The project is seen to revitalize the country’s pork supply which suffered a deficit due to the disruption caused by the African Swine Fever (ASF).
The project, endorsed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) for BOI tax incentives, has a capacity to produce 1,775 metric tons (MT) of live hogs (equivalent to 1,508 MT of pork) annually to account for 1.25 percent of the DA's pork supply deficit of 120,889 MT for this year. The project is estimated to increase domestic output by P563.15 million. 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.
To ensure 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.
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..
On the economic side, the project is estimated to increase domestic output by P563.15 million. Sunjin will also conduct awareness seminars to farmers on disease prevention every quarter.
In addition, the company will also donate organic fertilizer to rice and palay farmers in the area. This will help farmers save around P100 per kilogram of organic fertilizer.
“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.
Significantly, the project will jumpstart the hog repopulation in Ilocos Region and other nearby red zone areas. With Sunjin, hog production in Ilocos Region (Region I) can increase 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.
The project is in line with DA’s Bantay ASF4 sa Barangay (BABay ASF) program. It will also support DA’s recently-launched Plant, Plant, Plant 2.0 Program.