Pig stock getting smaller

The pig stock last year dropped by five per cent over 2004, data released by the National Statistics office showed. There were 73,025 heads last December, that is 3,828 pigs fewer than the 76,853 pigs recorded in the annual pig survey of 2004, the NSO said.

Pig farms totalled 156, three fewer than in 2004.

The NSO said that since the Census of Agriculture in October 2001, a steady decline in the pig population was noted. A total of 81,841 heads had been recorded then, a drop of 10.8 per cent when taking last December's count.

An increase over the previous year was recorded only in 2004. The NSO said all categories of pigs had registered declines when compared to the 2004 pig survey. The most outstanding decline was registered in the fattening pigs category where an 11.7 per cent drop was noted. The other categories registered declines ranging from one to two per cent.

On a regional level, 68,722 pigs (94.1 per cent of total) were found in Maltese farms last year, a decline of 4.5 per cent over the 2004 level. On the other hand, the number of pigs in Gozo and Comino farms declined by 12.4 per cent, down from 4,914 pigs in 2004 to 4,303 in 2005. The number of pig farms there remained practically unchanged.