Role of Cooperative in Improving Accessibility to Production Resources and Household Economy of Backyard Pig Raisers in Batangas, Philippines

The backyard (small scale) pig sector is considered a key proponent in the development of Philippine agriculture and of the local animal industry. For years, it outperforms the commercial (large-scale) pig sector in terms of aggregate inventory, volume and value of production and number of direct dependents it employs nationwide. However, the marked increase of pork demand driven by rapid urbanization and population growth in major urban centers of Metro Manila and nearby provinces of Central and Southern Luzon regions hinder the local backyard pig sector to cope with the "Livestock Revolution". With this phenomenon, backyard pig raisers are required to upscale their farm operation to increase the domestic pork supply and to meet the rising demand of the people. The backyard pig raisers' limited access to scarce production resources is adversely affected by commercial pig operators specially in Central and Southern Luzon regions where the impacts of the "Livestock Revolution" is strongly felt. The assembly of backyard pig raisers to cooperative is one of the potential measures promoted by the government (public) and private sector to directly link them with the dynamics of the whole market chain ranging from procurement of critical production resources and services to the differentiated products of the output market. Through their linkage to the formal livestock market, backyard pig raisers gains the potential to improve their operation and socioeconomic status as well. Based on a field survey, this paper aims to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving the backyard pig raisers' access to various production resources and their household economy.