El Niño won’t stunt growth of fisheries sector – BFAR head

Despite El Niño hitting the country in October until the first quarter of 2003, the prospects of the fisheries sector would still be looking good, according to Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. of the Bureau of fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Sarmiento’s fearless projection was made during the Fish Talk forum of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists Inc. (PAJ) held at the Jo’s Chicken Inato Restaurant in Quezon City, where he and Quedancor president and chief executive officer Nelson C. Buenaflor talked about Fishery production and support services.

Sarmieto said BFAR has formulated contingency plans for inland fisheries which El Niño might affect. Coastal fisheries, on the other hand will be affected.

Another guest, Pete Borja, public relations officer of SIAP, one of the leading producers and exporters of seaweeds (caraggenan) to the world market, expressed alarm on the possible effects of El Niño on seaweed farms. "Definitely, El Niño will have quite a big impact on seaweed farms," he said as he asked for BFAR and DA’s full assistance to seaweeds farmers most of whom are based in the Southern provinces, including Palawan.

Borja also said that the industry is still growing at five to eight percent yearly, and has not reached a plateau as earlier reported, since markets for seaweeds in the world have regained confidence on Philippine carageenan.

He said there had been many issues being lodged in the world market against Philippine carageenan, supposedly on human health, "but we have already surmounted all these and convinced our markets scientifically that our product is safe."

The Philippines is the world’s number one producer of seaweeds but is only fourth in carageenan (semi processed seaweed) production. The leaders are two US companies and a Danish outfit, all of which have set up buying stations in the country.

Buenaflor said Quedancor, which he heads, is setting aside P50 million for lending to seaweed farming, as a result of the recommendations raised during the recent Mindanao Business Council.

Buenaflor said a farmer can avail themselves of a P15,000-loan to upgrade and expand his existing farms, payable upon their harvest. The loan may be used for inputs (seaweed materials), floaters and for banana acquisition. The loans are granted to farmers who belong to self-reliant teams (SRTs), which would each elect a leader that will take charge of collecting the loans and remitting the payments to Quedancor.

Sarmiento said the experience of BFAR on seaweed farming in its 36 techno-demo farms is that for every one hectare of farm, yields can reach 8.8 tons or 500 to 600 kilos of dried seaweeds, which can sell at P22 per kilo.

He said seaweed farming, which is adopted from the Japanese otushi ani technology is an ecologically friendly fishery project that will also assure food for the different fishery species while providing gainful employment and incomes to seaweed farmers. The technology regenerates marine resources while providing farmers with an alternative livelihood opportunity.

Sarmiento also confidently spoke of the sector’s expected performance for 2002, saying that once again fisheries will be one of the major contributors to the growth of the entire agriculture sector.

For 2001, the fisheries sector grew by 5.5 percent pushing the agriculture sector to a growth of 3.5 percent. Fisheries production has been growing at 2.7million metric tons from 1994-1997 to 2.8 million metric tons in 1999 and then to three million in 2001. For the first six months this year, fisheries production reached 1.7 million metric tons and if this pace is maintained, the sector will produce 3.4 million metric tons for the whole year, Sarmiento said.

He attributed the growth to the implementation of the Fisheries Code (enacted in 1998) and the introduction of innovative approaches to aquaculture – redirecting the program for rural development that is mass-based, ecologically-friendly and market-driven. – PAJ News & Features