May 12, 2011

 

Philippines to produce high-value marine products

 

 

Members of the Matarrang Community Organisation (MCO) in Tawi-Tawi foresees their harvest this May to be about a tonne of high-value marine goods due to the assistance from USAID's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM).

 

Around 29 former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) combatants are profitably farming grouper and abalone, a gyrate from the life they lived as armed guerrillas years ago and are now channelling their skills and energy into a new enterprise of sustainable aquaculture production.

 

The MCO has recently entered into a contract with the Tawi-Tawi Multi-Species Hatchery, under which the latter will provide the organisation with abalone spats and grouper fingerlings for grow-out.

 

MCO president Najir Abdurajan said that once the high-value marine products have reached harvestable size, the hatchery will purchase them at prevailing market prices.

 

"Under the agreement, we will regularly supply the hatchery with market-size abalone which will be used as spawners," Abdurajan said, adding that the group began as simple seaweed growers and have now branched out into high-value aquaculture production.

 

USAID's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) programme under its Sustainable Aquaculture and Fisheries Effort (SAFE) assisted the Tawi-Tawi Hatchery and the MCO in the finalisation of agreement. The hatchery is expected to provide MCO with a stable market for its marine products.

 

GEM, earlier collaborated with the Tawi-Tawi Hatchery to instruct the group on the use of yusukei trays for sustained commercial-level scale production. MCO was also trained on aquaculture production and provided with production inputs to start its initial cycle, as part of the GEM Programme's Former Combatant Reintegration component.

 

GEM senior aquaculture specialist Tito Ilagan said that durable trays are more cost-effective and sustainable system than traditional fish pens or rock enclosures.

 

MCO expects to harvest one tonne of grouper this May worth approximately US$11,000 and 200kg of abalone valued at US$1,600. Abalone currently sells at PHP550/kg (US$12.79), while live grouper sells at PHP500/kg (US$11.63) in domestic markets.

 

The GEM programme has worked with fish growers' association in western Mindanao, including the Sulu Archipelago, to discourage the practice of catching mature reef fish and abalone from the wild for grow-out.

 

GEM said that it has also provided selected groups of growers with training on site location, feed management and the establishment of commercial-scale culture systems.