Agriculture Business Week

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is reaffirming its commit to promote sustainable fish farming throughout the country.

As part of this commitment, it will be holding seminars, live fish display and other interactive activities at the Agrilink 2010 which will be held on October 7 to 9 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila, Pasay City.

This year’s team of Agrilink is “Good Agricultural Practices: Key to Competitiveness..” The event will bring together local and international suppliers and exhibitors, highlighting the latest technologies and inputs that will improve sustainability of the interconnected industries of food, agriculture and aqualcuture.

BFAR’s intensified activities in promoting fish production is brought about by a steadily increasing demand for fish and aquaculture products, both for the local market and export destinations like the United States, Japan and the European Union.

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Posted on July 19th, 2010 under Aquaculture. Tags: BFAR, Fish, Fish Farming. Comments: 4

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region 2 (BFAR 2) in Tuguegarao City and the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD) of the DOST in collaboration with the Santeh Feeds Corporation, a private company, have conducted the graduation ceremony for the Fisheries School-on-the-Air (FSA)-Mudcrab Culture at the Cagayan State University, Gonzaga, Cagayan on October 16, 2009.

According to Dr. Dalisay Fernandez, Chief Science Research Specialist of the Research Information Utilization Division of the Los Banos-based PCAMRD-DOST, the FSA is a free educational program designed to promote fisheries technologies in strategic areas in the Philippines. This is a relatively new extension methodology and an innovative approach that allows fisherfolk to learn new technologies without leaving their place of work. FSA is a series of canned radio programs covering topics on the culture of tilapia, mudcrab, pomfret, grouper, seabass, and Pacific white shrimp; andon coastal resource management, among others.

The FSA lessons take the form of a drama series, not compared to the drama programs that are popular among rural folks, to have greater appeal to intended audience. The recorded lecture from experts and a simple quiz are then included at the end of the drama segment to complete one learning session. The program takes about 20 to 25 minutes. The FSA mudcrab module consisting of 14 sessions was for two.

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Posted on May 3rd, 2010 under Aquaculture. Tags: BFAR, DOST, Fish. Comments: 2

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Regional Office No. 2 has started the provision of rehabilitation assistance for fisherfolk in Cagayan Valley affected by the recent super typhoon ‘Pepeng.’

As outlined in its rehab plan, the bureau will provide a total of 5.8 million fingerlings for some 2,787 fish farmers affected by the calamity.

BFAR Region 2 Disaster Action Officer and Assistant Regional Director Severina Bueno said that the fisheries agency had already served municipalities that have submitted their master list of affected fisherfolk. The ARD is calling on the rest of the municipalities to submit said document as soon as possible as it serves as basis and reference in releasing assistance.

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Posted on December 6th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: BFAR, Cagayan, Fish, Pepeng, Typhoon. Comments: None

Instead of becoming victims of climate change, the country’s fisherfolk can adapt to this unwanted phenomenon even to their own advantage.

This is the objective behind the many technologies that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will showcase in the forthcoming Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink, the country’s biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agribusiness, food and aquaculture.

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento said his agency, with the help of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Department of Agriculture, was embarking on a campaign that would educate the public on how to take advantage of climate change.

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Posted on September 14th, 2009 under Aquaculture, Climate Change. Tags: BFAR, Climate Change, Fish, Fish Cage. Comments: None

BFAR has embarked on an ambitious project which could answer the needs of the marginalized fisherfolk or the enterprising agri-entrepreneurs.

Our country has around 2,200,000 sq. km. of total territorial waters and is recognized as a home to some mega diverse ecosystems teeming with various aquatic species. This makes the Philippine seas very productive. In 2006 alone 4,409,611 MT of fisheries products were produced. Traditionally the trend was that the bulk of the produce was generated by commercial fishermen but in recent years, aquaculture has steadily made gains in terms of output percentage. This is supported by the fact that 47% of the total produce in zoo6 came from aquaculture ventures followed by municipal fisheries (28%), and commercial fishermen at 25%.

According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the cause for the decline of traditional commercial fishing is due to several factors. First, the depletion of fish stocks caused by years of overfishing. Several factors like climate change have made aquaculture more cost effective compared to traditional commercial fishing. Recognizing the trend and the viability of aquaculture projects, the government has spearheaded several projects to spur this sector of the fisheries industry. One project in particular is the development of mariculture parks all over the country.

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Posted on April 29th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: BFAR, Fish, Investment, Mariculture, Mariculture Park. Comments: 2

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – Fisherfolk here in Region 2 can expect higher profitability for the coming months as the fisheries bureau in this region has targeted the introduction of, several cost-related and productivity enhancement technologies for 2009.

Recognizing the high cost of feeds that fish farmers have to pay, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has included in its 2009 plans the widespread promotion of duckweeds as supplemental feeds for tilapia, bangus, pangasius and carp.

Duckweeds (Lemna spp.) are tiny free-floating plants with reported crude protein content of 18 to 42 percent. Earlier study made by the bureau’s fishfarm in Iguig, Cagayan has determined the viability of using this rapidly-reproducing water plant as alternative feed without adverse effect on the growth of tilapia.

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Posted on April 14th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: BFAR, Duckweeds, Pangasius, Polyculture, Region 2, Tilapia. Comments: 6

Mangroves are woody, seed bearing plants adapted for life in brackish and water-logged soils. Mangrove areas are considered as buffer zone between land and sea, and serve as feeding and nursery grounds and refuge to many fish species, migratory birds, and other marine organisms.

The massive promotion of aquaculture in the `60s and `70s regrettably has led to the destruction of this invaluable resource. Fishery experts say that out of 450,000 hectares (ha) of mangrove areas in the Philippines in 1938 only 138,000 ha remained in 1993, and it is projected to go down further to 100,000 in 2030 if annual decline rate of 2,000 ha to 3,000 ha per year continues.

To prevent further destruction, lawmakers have enacted RA 8550 otherwise known as the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, specifically Sec. 94 which prohibits the conversion of mangroves into fishponds or any other purpose.

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Posted on March 4th, 2009 under Aquaculture, Plant. Tags: Aquasilvi, BFAR, Fish, Mangroves. Comments: None