Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Monday the government will improve the country’s tilapia industry to meet demand from other countries.
Piñol said while there was a great demand for tilapia and bangus, there was hardly enough supply sent to the US. He said William Go, one of owners of food exporter Seafood City, noted the strong demand for both marine products.
“Our timetable for the turnaround of the Philippine tilapia industry is one year. By that time, we will start our effort to earn the status of being one of the world’s top tilapia producers,” Piñol said.
He said employees of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources workers would be sent to AquaFarmingTech for a one-month exposure and training.
“I have directed BFAR to provide funding for the improvement of the hatchery facilities and the purchase of modern laboratory equipment,” he said.
The Naujan tilapia hatchery in Oriental Mindoro is capable of producing up to 150 million fry per year. Actual production, however, reaches only 3.5 million fry a year.
He said in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, the National Freshwater Fish Research Center was still breeding Niloticas species, which produces only 40-percent males.
“In tilapia farming, males are preferred because they grow faster while the females are smaller because they spend their energy producing eggs,” Piñol said.
“Worse than the neglect for the fish breeding stocks is the injustice on the highly-skilled and talented workers. most of whom are fisheries graduates and many of them holding Masters degree,” Piñol said.
Piñol said workers in the facilities were receiving only P500 per day on a ‘no work, no pay set-up.’
“I directed undersecretary for Fisheries Eduardo Gongona to make sure that the qualified [workers] be given regular positions while those who do not possess the eligibility should be assisted so they too would receive the pay that they deserve,” Piñol said.