GUIMARAS – Majority of the livestock raised in this island province came from smallholder farms, accounting for 99.58%, or 30,302 heads.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) inventory further showed that as of January 1 this year, 0.42% of livestock, or 127 heads, were from semi-commercial farms, and none for commercial farms.
Livestock raised in smallholder farms was consistently dominated by goats, accumulating to 71,414 heads, accounting for 41.16% percent.
“The other 32.65% (56,647 heads) and 26.19% (45,436 heads) were counted in cattle and carabao, respectively, for the survey period January 1 of 2020-2024,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.
Comparing inventory of the survey period January 1 (2020-2024), goat inventory showed the highest growth rate on January 1, 2022, with 5.8%, or from 13,014 heads in 2021 to 13,764 heads in 2022.
Cattle and carabao posted the lowest growth rate of -28.3% and -26.5%, respectively, in the same year.
PSA data also showed that the number of goats on smallholder farms posted an erratic inventory trend, while carabao showed a decreasing trend from 2020 to 2024 of the January 1 survey periods./PN
