RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Residing in San Marcos, San Pablo, Laguna, Mr. Geronimo B. Cosico is engaged in livestock production particularly a hog raiser and butcher. The business started since he was 22 years old and he considers this as the familys main source of income. According to him, the food produce is enough for the community and household needs since he already has regular buyers or suki, then the leftover meats are for his family consumption. This is also the reason why Mr. Cosico came up with livestock production because not only there is income but food for the family as well.

Mr. Cosico does not have any special method to hasten the growth and maturity of their pigs. He only uses commercial feeds but when there is no money, he just provides the pigs with leftover foods. Having no other methods to enhance hog raising may affect production and availability in the long-term as they could experience shortage of hogs in times of high demand. However, his way of nurturing the pigs is used for 30 years already and there seems to be no difficulties. Mr. Cosico does not have his own land for raising pigs. He just rents with his friend who happens to be raising hogs too, though they are not partners. This set-up does not greatly affect his production since his only expense is for water consumption, thus do not reduce much of his income. Any storage method is also not being practiced because they do not have many leftovers since he takes orders first before slaughtering pig/s. If there is some, then it is just for family consumption. This practice could also affect their income because what if there are too many leftovers and it is too much for his family, then it would be a problem if a storing place is not available. Mr. Cosicos location is accessible to consumers so there is no problem in selling produce. He has frequent buyers from theirs and neighboring barangays. Also, their community is not at risk to any diseases that could affect the pigs growth. He has only a small amount of fund which makes him owe money from friends in times of low production just to maintain his business. No partner or organizations help him in raising his produce since his hogs are not that many. This may affect his production because there is not always someone who could lend money for him in times of need. According to Mr. Cosico, his income is not enough for his family needs. This causes difficulties not only for the family but also for the business itself

because lack of income means deficiency in resources for livestock production, such as money for buying feeds. Then it would eventually result to insufficiency of funds for the familys needs.

The Cosico family usually eats three times a day: breakfast at 9am, lunch at 12nn and dinner at 7 or 8pm. During breakfast, the usual foods that the family consumes are fish or processed foods such as longanisa and tocino, together with rice or pan de sal. At lunch and dinner, they generally have vegetables, fish/meat/poultry, rice, and sometimes fruits as well. The Cosico family consists of 4 members Mr. Cosico, his wife, and their two children which are the 5-year old boy and 3-year old girl. Thus, food availability is not much of a problem for this small-sized family. In their family, the youngest child is considered the best fed since she is very eager to eat and she loves rice and fruits. She also drinks milk regularly. On the other hand, the first child is the poor fed one because of being a picky-eater and he is more focused in playing and watching television. The three most acceptable foods of the family are most vegetables, fish and fruits because the children have been educated that these are the healthy foods. In contrast, their least acceptable foods are kalabasa, pork and other fatty foods. The family seldom consumes fatty foods even though they have a hog raising business because both Mr. and Mrs. Cosico have hypertension. The children do not like kalabasa because of its taste and mushy texture when cooked. At a specific age group, there are foods that the family considers as good and harmful. For the children, vegetables are the good foods because of its being nutritious, while the harmful foods are softdrinks and junkfoods because it is too salty and bad for the health. For the couple, on the other hand, they consider fish and vegetable as good foods while pork and other fatty foods are the harmful ones since they are hypertensive. The familys mostliked foods are boiled vegetables in soup and fried fish, which are easy to prepare. The existing illness experienced by the couple is their hypertension which is hereditary in nature. This consequently limits their consumption of fatty foods. On the contrary, the children recently experience colds and flu due to changes in climate and temperature, resulting to their more intakes of fruits and vegetables, which is a good practice.