Over the years, the swine industry has been the largest and the most developed among animal industries in the country. With increasing accessibility of internet, it becomes logical to disseminate relevant information through this facility. This scenario prompted the Livestock Research Division (LRD) to develop this Swine Information Network (SwIN).

Needs assessment on hardware, software, system design and manpower capabilities were done. The proposed SwIN was presented before stakeholders who attended the annual meeting of the Swine Performance Monitoring Project of the PCARRD-DOST and the Philippine Swine Industry Research and Development Foundation Inc. (PSIRDFI). The said stakeholders include commercial farm owners, farm managers, teachers, researchers, students, veterinary drug company representatives, media, feed millers and suppliers and other industry practitioners. Feedbacks were analyzed and presented during the next round of consultation meetings. Revisions were made based on the stakeholder’s feedback. Revised SwIN was again presented in succeeding consultation meetings.

Finally, the SwIN design was established in December 2001. Content buildup followed and a SwIN prototype was presented before the LRD staff, the Management Information Service Division (MISD) and the PCARRD Director’s Council for comments and approval for launching.