LAGANGILANG, Abra — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has established a swine multiplier farm here, a facility designed not just to raise pigs, but to multiply opportunities for farmers across the province.
The DA Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) office said it has invested P3.1 million in the project for the University of Abra (UA), which include 20 heads of swine valued at P400,000; animal and zoological supplies worth P1.2 million; equipment amounting to P500,000; and a housing facility worth P1 million.
This swine multiplier farm was established under the Department of Agriculture’s Livestock Economic Enterprise Development Project (LEED), designed to enhance the livestock sector’s contribution to food security and rural development through sustainable, enterprise-based animal production systems.
LEED brings together animal stocks, production supplies, equipment, and housing into one integrated package.
Jayvee Canor, DA-CAR Livestock Program Coordinator, said the project creates a steady source of quality breeding stocks — gilts and boars — selected for traits that matter on the ground: adaptability to local climate, disease resistance, and reproductive efficiency.
“From this hub, improved genetics flow outward, giving smallholder raisers access to animals that can produce healthier litters and withstand common swine illnesses without constant reliance on medication,” Canor said.
UA officials expect the project to strengthen the institution’s research, instruction, and extension functions while providing practical learning opportunities for students.
“The UA administration, with our president Gregorio Turqueza Jr., expresses its full support and commitment to this project, which will benefit our local communities soon,” said UA Research and Development Head Pablo Bose. “We express our sincerest thanks to the Department of Agriculture for funding this project.”
“The project will serve as a platform for research, extension, and technology demonstration while promoting sustainable livestock production practices that can be adopted by farmers and livestock raisers across the province,” Bose added.
For Abra’s farmers, many of whom raise only a handful of hogs to supplement income from rice and vegetable cultivation, the multiplier farm changes the math of backyard production.
DA officials describe the facility as more than infrastructure. “It is a bridge between laboratory work and farmyard practice, translating research on genetics and animal health into animals that farmers can actually raise and sustain.”
Canor said the multiplier farm is also expected to serve as a distribution point, feeding improved stock into communities while also demonstrating proper breeding and biosecurity practices.
In a province where terrain often limits large-scale commercial farms, the project reframes livestock raising as a science-based, community-scale enterprise.
Each gilt and boar that leaves the facility carries with it the potential for more piglets, more resilient herds, and more stable livelihoods — proof that in Abra, agricultural science is taking root.