The Provincial Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Office (PAENRO) has trained 40 fishers using the Fisherfolks Field School (FFS) to promote the adoption of improved fish production technology on production, processing, and marketing.
Catherine Buenaventura, PAENRO supervising agriculturist, said that the Bureau of Aquatic Resources (BAR) had allocated P1 million and the local government unit (LGU) shelled out P60,000 as counterpart for the improved fish production technology project.
The PAENRO believes that the project will increase the income of 20 farming households in Barangay Hapid and 20 farmers in Barangay Sanafe through their adoption of improved fish production technology.
“The project will also improve resource management capabilities of rural communities and promote processing and packaging of fish by displaying these products during trade fairs and at the Provincial Livelihood Center to encourage other fishers to grow and process fish particularly tilapia," Ms Buenaventura said.
The big irrigation system in this municipality that supplies water for rice production and fishponds at Lamut passes through these barangays thus the big potential for these areas to become fish producers like the other barangays.
Ms Buenaventura said that the project will adopt the recommended result from the FFS conducted in the same town in 2006. The technology involves the stocking of three pieces of fish to one square meter of pond area for mix sex and six pieces of fish to one square meter of sex reverse tilapia.
The farmers will implement three components of the projects namely fish production in fishponds, fish processing, and marketing.
“Each of the cooperators will provide at least 400 square meters of area for the on-farm trial,” Ms Buenaventura said adding that these ponds will be used as demo for the said fish technologym.
