Nilo

Nilo is married and has four children. Three are married and live independently, while the youngest is in 8th grade. Nilo makes an income from pig farming while his wife works as a babysitter. The family live in Cebu province.

He began his business in 2016 and has seen it progress over the years. Currently, Nilo has two fattening pigsties and one farrowing pen in his backyard. His pigsties are safely fenced within his property. Nilo has a free source of water for cleaning his pigsties, which allows him to save on expenses.

He was pleased with the outcome of his previous harvest because he generated an average profit of 10,000 pesos (£138) for each pig. Nilo is also grateful that his pigs were not affected by the pig disease outbreak last year. From the sales he used his profits to buy 11 piglets for 44,000 pesos (£609) and the rest he used to take care of household expenses and other personal needs. He will raise the piglets until they are ready to be sold in July. He also has one pregnant sow who is expected to give birth in June.

Nilo has decided to seek a loan from the MFI Lamac, our local development partner in the Philippines, to obtain additional funds to buy pig feed. This will help ensure that each piglet gains heavier weight, which will lead to higher profits. He will repay the loan at the end of the loan term on month six. Nilo will continue to manage his pig business so that he can consistently provide for his family's needs, especially for his youngest child who is still at school.