Sustainable Productivity Growth in Philippine Swine Production

Few published papers have taken the undesirable input effects in productivity change analysis particularly in swine production of developing countries in which it is a major economic activity and a potential pathway for poverty reduction. Untreated and improperly disposed swine waste can lead to environmental degradation such as groundwater pollution and nitrous oxide emission from the soil. These environmental impacts occur because of huge nutrient surpluses of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil and increased biological oxygen demand in the wastewater. As green growth initiatives are being promoted in the context of improving swine productivity growth sustainably, there is urgent need to consider these unpriced environmental impacts. The objective of this paper is to clarify if swine farm productivity growth has become environmentally sustainable in a developing country like the Philippines. The Environmentally Sensitive Malmquist Productivity Index (ESMPI) is applied to a balanced panel dataset involving 40 small-scale and commercial swine farms in the top swine-producing regions of Central Luzon and Southern Luzon for the years 2002 and 2015. The results of the estimations show that only 12 or less than one-third of the 40 swine farms experienced productivity growth at the frontier. Their ESMPIs ranged from 1.001 to 1.642 with a mean of 1.151, implying an increase in the environmentally sensitive productivity growth between 2002 and 2015. Such increases were largely due to efficiency rather than technological improvements. For majority of the swine farms, however, productivity growth, inclusive of environmental impacts, has declined.