Philippines closes the piglet numbers gap

摘要

Data for the number of pigs born per litter in the Philippines show levels of production which would be regarded with some alarm by European producers used to achieving much better results, or perhaps with an air of calm resignation by Asian herds whomay share similar problems of disease, nutrition and climate. But recent studies have tended to suggest that the international gap in litter size is being narrowed by the more developed Philippines units. According to a new analysis of data collected over the years by the national bureau of agricultural statistics, the various regions that form the islands of the Philippines (see Figure 1) differ markedly for the size of litters born. The range varies from a low of 5.1 live births for backyard farms in West Mindanao during January-March 1993 to a high of 10.76 for commercial farms in South Mindanao in July-September 1993.