The norm in broiler production is now operations with more than 10,000 birds under commercial contract with a large integrator. There are still, however, smaller sized contracts, involving 6,000-10,000 birds, with less dominant integrators. Smallholder independent broiler production is being eased out. Where such smallholders exist, they are very small in scale (100-2,000 birds). Independent commercial broiler operations is now also becoming a rarity.
In hog production, smallholder independent operations still abound in the regions sampled, although the production level of commercial hog operations is higher (except in Northern Mindanao). Smallholder contracts were not found in Central Luzon but did exist in Southern Tagalog (Luzon), where a few feed mills appear to be engaging in contract production with smallholders for grow-to-finish and farrow-to-weaning (piglet production) operations. Commercial-sized contract production arrangements do exist, but there is great difficulty in obtaining production and marketing information on them. Large independent commercial hog farms also exist in all three regions, but as mentioned earlier, most are held by Chinese businesspeople who, in general, are unwilling to be interviewed.
With regard to the activities engaged in by hog producers, the sample structure is quite representative. Independent smallholders engage in either farrow-to-weaning (piglet production) or a combination of farrow-to-weaning and farrow-to-finish operations. For contract producers-smallholder or commercial-the dominant activity is grow-to-finish. For independent commercial producers, activities are either farrow-to-finish or a combination of farrow-to-finish and piglet production.
