Agriculture Business Week

A 52-YEAR old surgeon who later became successful in tilapia farming was awarded as one of the ten outstanding technology adoptors by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) at the Manila Hotel last September 19. They are part of the 50 Men and Women of Science who are recognized by DOST for their significant contribution to science and technology in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Dr. Jose Ildefonso Costales Jr. of Brgy. Nabbuan, Santiago City owns and manages Palaisdaan Natin, a 3-hectare (ha) fishfarm which produces 8 million fingerlings annually and generates an annual sales and income of P4.2 million and P3.3 million, respectively.

Started without any knowledge in fish farming, Dr. Costales availed of the tilapia grow-out production module of the Consultancy for Agricultural Productivity Enhancement (CAPE) Program under DOST’s Technology Application and Promotion Institute in 2000.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on January 7th, 2009 under Aquaculture, Entrepreneurs, Technology. Tags: Entrepreneurs, Technology, Tilapia. Comments: None

Students of the Pangasinan State University (PSU) College of Fisheries in Binmaley, Pangasinan have found that processed bangus bones and spines can be used as feed for tilapia.

Conducted by Dan Clark Rosario, May Ann Catabay, and Efren Soy under the guidance of Dr. Rosie Abalos, the experiment was set up for 62 days at the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center in Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City. They used 360 fingerlings of Molobicus saline tilapia.

Results of the study showed that tilapia given feeds containing 20 to 25 percent processed bangus bones and spines had better survival and growth rate than those fed with 100 percent commercial feed. In effect, inclusion of processed bangus bones and spines in the commercial feed formulation might lessen the cost of feeds.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on December 17th, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Bangus, Pangasinan, Tilapia. Comments: None

Perhaps, nothing could make inventors happier than to witness how their inventions have helped people.

This is what unsung Filipino inventors Alfonso Puyat and Engineer Walther Alvarez must have felt when the Villa family’s farm in Nueva Ecija expanded after they dared to adopt the unpopular technologies that these inventors developed.

Ricardo and Nenita Villa used to harvest 100 to 120 cavans per hectare from their 45-hectare rice farm in San Fernando Norte, Cabiao. But when they learned that Fernando Gabuyo of San Jose City was averagely harvesting more than 300 cavans per hectare from hybrid rice, they became curious and wanted to harvest more.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on December 7th, 2008 under Farming. Tags: Farm, Organic, Rice, Technology, Tilapia, Vegetables. Comments: None

In the second International Technical and Trade Conference and Exposition on Tilapia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we recently participated in, the latest trends in tilapia farming worldwide were taken up.

Global production- of farmed tilapia in 2005 was 2.5 million metric tons and over two-thirds of this volume was produced in Asia. Among the top five producers are China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. By 2010, world tilapia production is expected to be 3.5-4 million metric tons.

According to the Tilapia Market Report of INFOFISH, a service-oriented intergovernmental organization that organized TILAPIA 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, the biggest export market for tilapia is the United States. The US imported 158,300 metric tons of tilapia (whole frozen, frozen fillets, and fresh fillets) in 2006. Ecuador is the top exporting country for fresh fillets while China is the top exporter of whole frozen tilapia and frozen fillets. The value of tilapia as an aquaculture commodity worldwide is about US$500 million.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on December 7th, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tilapia. Comments: None

To help tilapia raisers save on the cost of commercial feeds and produce healthier stock, Dr Redentor S. Gatus, regional director of the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit III, is conducting an experimental organic tilapia culture in his 3,000-square meter, fishpond in Candaba, Pampanga.

Dr. Gatus feeds his stock with the Organic Aqua Feeds (OAF), which is invented by Engr. Walther Alvarez who also invented Atovi, an organic feed additive for chickens and pigs.

Engr. Alvarez said that raising organic tilapia can be done when there is a profuse and sustained growth of algae, bryophytes, phytoplanktons, and zooplanktons in the natural habitat of the fish. Enhanced growth of these natural foods of the fish also results in the production of an ample supply of dissolved oxygen that tilapia needs. Aside from this, if there is a constant and reliable supply of oxygen, it wouldn’t be necessary to have an aerator to stir the fishpond.

To promote the growth of these natural foods, OAF is applied four weeks before the fingerlings are dispersed into the pond. By that time there is already a profuse supply of natural foods in the pond. Feed the fingerlings daily with OAF in addition to the natural foods in the pond, and the month-old tilapia will grow fast, remarkably gain weight, and develop their immune system.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on November 25th, 2008 under Aquaculture, Organic. Tags: Tilapia. Comments: None

The 2007 Aquatic Technology Competition yielded a rich harvest of technologies that could be commercialized. The competition, which is in its third year, is a brainchild of Dr Rafael D. Guerrero III and his colleagues at the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. It is being implemented under the auspices of the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Systems.

A team of young engineers garnered the top prize of P150,000 cash for their underwater robot. The robot called Angel One was developed by Roboteknik headed by Michael Poblete, a youthful mechanical engineering graduate of Mapua Institute of Technology. He describes Angel One as an underwater robot with a video camera and propulsion system. Its primary function is to conduct visual inspection of underwater objects and structures.

In aquaculture, the robot can be used to monitor the fish inside the fishpen, their rate of growth using optional scaling lasers, and feed consumption by measuring the amount of falling feed in the bottom of the fishpen. It could be used to spot holes or breaks in the net where high-value fish could escape.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on October 20th, 2008 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: Bangus, Disease, Seaweed, Tilapia. Comments: None

The Mozambique Tilapia(Oreochromis mossamicus) was the first tilapia species from Thailand introduced in the Philippines in 1950. Then regarded as the “wonderfish” for its prolific breeding habit and hardiness, it was widely promoted for backyard freshwater pond culture as a food fish.

The tilapia craze, however, waned in the 1960s due to the poor yields of the fish attributed to its early maturation and uncontrolled reproduction. Becoming mature and capable of breeding at an early age of only 2-3 months and with the capacity to breed as frequent as once a month in ponds, the growth of the fish was stunted with overpopulation.

While freshwater pond culture of the Mozambique tilapia was problematic (without population control), the fish got established in brackishwater waterways and ponds to which it had escaped and became an “invasive non-native species.” Being euryhaline (thriving in fresh and salty waters), it easily adapted itself in the brackishwater environment.
(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on October 8th, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Mozambique, Tilapia. Comments: None

As tilapia continues to make waves in the international market, its consumption has also created debates among dieticians and health buffs.

Tilapia is often touted as the single most important aquaculture product in the 21St century. In fact, Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons, president of the World Aquaculture Society, called tilapia as the “foodfish of the 21St century.” Tilapia has been around since biblical times. Most of them were raised before in Africa, but accidental and deliberate introductions of tilapia into freshwater lakes made them feasible to be raised in tropical climate such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on September 21st, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Tilapia. Comments: None

The Davao-based Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center Foundation gives these timely and relevant tips on growing tilapia.

Tilapia is now widely distributed around the world. It has become the mainstay of many small-scale aquaculture projects of poor fish farmers in the developing world. According to Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, the executive director of the Laguna-based Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD), tilapia is now cultured in more than 70 countries.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Posted on September 16th, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Fish, Tilapia. Comments: 1