With its vision of creating linkages and forge existing ones among agriculture stakeholders, Agrilink once again opened its doors at the World Trade Center, Pasay City on October 4-6, 2018.
Now on its 25th year, the event bears the theme “Efficient Value Chain in the Hog Industry: A Must for Continued Growth,” the program gives the limelight on the hog industry. Being the biggest driver in the growth of the livestock sector, the industry posted over 16% increase in gross earnings due to growth in production and price.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the local livestock sector expanded by 15%-46% in gross value production. This translates to P75.5 billion (B) in gross earnings at current prices.
The growth in the sector, particularly in the hog industry can be attributed to the strong linkage between government and private stakeholders. DA’s Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) OIC-Director Luz Taposok said that the agency is closely coordinating with various Local Government Units (LGU’s) nationwide to ensure that farmers and fishermen have access to training and extension services that can help them in uplifting their livelihood.
ATI caters to the hog industry through the International Training Center on Pig Husbandry (ITCPH) located in Marawoy, Lipa, Batangas. It is the only specialized training center on pig husbandry in Asia established in June 1985 through the joint efforts of the governments of the Philippines and the Netherlands.
In his keynote speech, Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Agribusiness and Marketing Jose Gabriel La Viña urged farmers and fisherfolk to organize groups to be able to produce more efficiently. He also noted that DA is slowly transitioning from providing interventions on individual farmers into giving bigger and more sustainable aids to farmer and fisherfolk groups.
“Equip yourselves with the latest technology and use it to your advantage. I also encourage you to venture into agribusiness and learn value adding techniques to increase your income while reducing production losses as we need to maximize our food production and utilization,” he added.
This year’s Agrilink, Food Link, and Aqualink was organized by The Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development Inc. (FRLD). The event also featured live animal and plant display, cooking demos and other special activities that will emphasize the most up-to-date and ground-breaking inputs, technologies and alliances, which can enhance the profitability, sustainability and productivity of the of the interdependent industries of agriculture, aquaculture and food. ### (Carlos Cezar Baldosa, DA-AFID)
