AART: Providing Fish Farming Technology and Fingerlings for Ilonggos

Immediately upon his assumption as Governor again, Hon. Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. ordered Ms. Alma Moreno-Caballero, Agricultural Center Chief II, to organize and develop the Demonstration Fish Farm in Brgy. Nanga, Pototan. The area is part of the agricultural demonstration complex and the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center. While the other components of the demonstration farm had already been developed, the fish farm component had not been given much attention, mainly because it had just transferred from its old location in Molo, Iloilo City when the lease agreement with the Iloilo City Government had just expired.

Getting funds from the regular budget of the Iloilo Provincial Government, Ms. Moreno started to develop the area by first preparing the development plan where the general concept was to provide a site for validation research, technology development on freshwater aqua-culture and to provide on a limited scale, fries and fingerlings of popular freshwater species that can be grown by farmers all over the province.

Meanwhile, Ms. Moreno was aggressive in coordinating with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources where she availed of various training and acquired breeders of the latest fishes being promoted by the bureau. By the end of 2010, she reported the demonstration farm's various accomplishments that included among others, the acquisition of the latest improved strains of Tilapia and the emerging sunshine aqua-culture fish, the Pangasius.

Also during that time, BFAR Regional Office was looking for recipients of grants for demonstration farms and citing the accomplishments of the demonstration farm at Nanga, Pototan, offered a module worth more than P3,000,000.00 to Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr. who gladly accepted and also advanced the Province's counterpart funding. The project is now underway.

Meanwhile, Ms. Caballero exerted greater efforts and looked for talents who would be able to support the demonstration farm's pool of qualified personnel. She then endorsed to Governor Defensor trained aquaculturist Pedro Blacer who then became the lead man in producing spawns of tilapia and on growing the Pangasius. Concerted efforts by her team led to the production of more fingerlings and the high survival of Pangasius fingerlings. Also on board is the culture and breeding of freshwater prawn or “olang” in Ilonggo/Hiligaynon.

With the finalization of the development plan for the demonstration farm, it was only fitting that it be renamed ART Development Center or Aqua-culture Research and Technology Development Center which is now the center for freshwater aquaculture research in the Province of Iloilo.

Tilapia is now popular all over the world. Western countries export this fish as fillet or as frozen whole fish. The Philippines is still a minor player in the export market because of the minimal government support in the research and development compared to other Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam which are now the world's top fish producers.

Pangasius meanwhile is known as dory fish in plush restaurants and hotels worldwide. It is exported as fillet and is popular among chefs because it can be prepared in so many ways due to its neutral taste and flavor. Its white meat also makes it a good substitute for other more expensive species. Since it is native to the Mekong Delta, Vietnam and Thailand are still the biggest exporters of this fish species.

The Provincial ART is still the only provincial facility in the region to grow Pangasius with the aim of raising breeders so that the hatchlings can be grown and dispersed to farmers province-wide. Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. is confident that with both the efforts of the Provincial government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Pangasius can be one of the major fish commodities produced by farmers in the province.