The Central Luzon regional development council chaired by Bulacan Governor Josefina Dela Cruz has passed a 12-point economic development agenda that includes organizing groups of small tilapia, or St. Peter’s fish growers who have three to five hectare farms and consolidating aquaculture areas into a mini-mum of 80 hectare production farms that would be used for the production of the giant tilapia.
RDC said in the 12-point economic development agenda that Central Luzon is the largest producer of tilapia in the country and that for the year 2000 alone, the production of the fish in Region III reached 120,000 metzric tons. Tilapia farms are thriving in the towns of Calumpit, Hagonoy, San Ildefonso and San Miguel in the provinces of Bulacan, Candaba in Pampanga and Gapan in Nueva Ecija.
The RDC study showed that tilapia produced in the region is usually the four to five pieces a kilo variety, which is not as marketable as the one kilo per piece variety that is used for fillet. The study said that tilapia growers do not meet the growing demand for this variety.
Dela Cruz said that fish fillet bought in the local market are usually impor-ted from other countries, so they felt the need to develop the local tilapia industry so that the demand for the Philippine market can be sustained.
The RDC is composed of representatives from the government, non-government organizations, the business and the private sector.
Dela Cruz said they have also passed a resolution asking the government to re-open the San Jose cold storage facility in Nueva Ecija that was foreclosed by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to be used as storage area for tilapia harvested in the region.
Recently, President Arroyo has called for the development of the tila-pia industry as part of the food security program of the government. The Chief Executive made this call after having found out that galunggong or the poor man’s fish costs more than tilapia.
Galunggong can be bought in the market for as much as P80 a kilo while tilapia is sold at P60 a kilo.
Dela Cruz said that the RDC’s proposal might make Central Luzon the source of export quality tilapia.