DAGUPAN CITY, Aug. 23 (PIA) - The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) eyes aquaculture improvement as its answer to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Eduardo Gongona, undersecretary for fisheries and BFAR national director, said that BFAR’s direction is expanding aquaculture as 40 percent of the fish production in the country comes from aquaculture.
The remaining 60 percent comes from captured fisheries.
“If we can develop the 40 percent to grow into 60 percent, we can be on surplus by 10 percent by 2013,” Usec. Gongona said during his visit to Dagupan City on Thursday.
Gongona said the direction now for the last two years of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term is to target at least two percent growth in aquaculture and maintain captured fisheries.
“Bonus if captured fisheries develop 61-65 percent growth because one percent fish sufficiency increment is 80,000 metric tons. Malaki 'yun,” he explained.
He said BFAR has priority targets namely bangus, tilapia, shellfish and seaweeds.
Private sector, he said, can focus on high value fishes like pampano and crabs.
Gongona said he has also injected the corporate post-harvest marketing ancillary industry plan for value-adding activities.
“Puro value-adding itong mga programa para sa ating mga farmers at fishers like if you invest 35 billion today, it will become 78 billion in five years,” Gongona said.
The BFAR executive visited the National Integrated Fisheries and Technology Development Centre (NIFTDC) in Dagupan City to personally visit the oyster and siganid production and join the forum which aims to banner food security and Philippine resiliency side by side with prosperous farmers and fishermen. (JCR/AMB/VHS/PIA Pangasinan)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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