Hog raising is an interesting business venture.  It’s usually not profitable.  The cost of feed alone is more than a full grown animal can earn at the market.  Butchering hogs, however, can be profitable.  Juan, Alberto, and Marciel (pictured below, L-R) have started a joint venture to raise and butcher pork. 

The local market isn’t as you might expect.  There are no bone saws, so butchering is done with knives and an axe.  The most valuable delicacy, the fried pig skin, sells out first at twice the price of any other cut.  Blood sausage sells fast, as do internal organs.  The head and brain may be sold by the unit or by the half—bring your own machete.  Even the foot is valuable, earning about $2 each.   Bacon isn’t a recognized cut of meat here; it gets rendered for fat and the crispy ‘cracklin’s’ of fried meat scooped from the bottom of the rendering vat.  Butchering starts about 2:00 am, and by 9:00, most of the good meat has sold.  Meanwhile, those less desirable cuts—the tenderloin and the ham—don’t sell so fast.  Anything left over by mid-day gets turned into sausage to make it marketable.

There’s a market for pork tenderloin and ham, but it has two problems.  First, the market isn’t usually in the village, but in the larger towns.  Second, there is limited or no refrigeration.  That's where As Green As it Gets comes in.  We help producers find markets for ham and bacon.  We teach them how to cure ham and smoke the meat.  Smoking and curing preserve the meat, eliminating the need for refrigeration and allowing for transportation to better markets.  Those important value added steps, coupled with market generation, turn a losing business venture into a profitable business.