Dagupan bangus growers urged to tap export market

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Mayor Belen Fernandez is urging  bangus (milkfish) growers to tap the export market.

Fernandez rallied Dagupan bangus growers to tap the export market   during the recent  Regional Bangus Summit held April 23 at Star Plaza Hotel, which  was part of the Bangus Festival 2014.

The summit was sponsored jointly by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Dagupan City government as part of the Dagupan Bangus Festival.

“I am happy to note that this summit is geared towards the growing threat of free trade agreements which provides opportunities to those who are ready, while it is a threat to those who are not,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez  said she is optimistic  that through the summit, most of the local bangus producers and processors would be encouraged to trust their business instinct to export their produce because “this is the only way to solve the pricing problem and the oversupply of bangus in our province”.

She expressed concern over the low pricing of milkfish in Dagupan which prompted her to implement a two-day schedule for the sale exclusively of Dagupan bangus in the market to help bangus producers earn better.

Fernandez is grateful to the DTI and BFAR for leading the summit even as she invited everyone to maximize the use of the city’s own processing plant in Bonuan Binloc.

The processing plant  was established in 2007 by former Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr.

“We have not yet maximized the full potential of the plant. Right now, it is not yet operating 24/7, with only a hundred deboners working at the plant. If only we can make full use of it, we would be helping more people to work at the plant,” Fernandez said.

She said her family started venturing into the industry when she was still the vice mayor,  enabling her to learn and understand the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the bangus industry.

Meanwhile, regional director Nestor D. Domenden of BFAR Region 1 challenged everyone that if the region wants to be in control of the industry, there is a need to be more independent and have a self-contained industry.

Domenden disclosed that at present the country  still imports most of its  bangus fries from Indonesia

“It is unfortunate that we claim that bangus is our national fish,yet it is imported from Indonesia. If we are not going to start improving the industry, there will come a time this bangus that gives us pride will come to an end,” Domenden said. 

In the same summit, DTI provincial director Peter Mangabat pointed out that Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan are also exporting fresh frozen bangus like the Philippines, “that is why our milkfish must really be highly competitive”.

“We have to take advantage of the fact that the bangus known in other countries is the Bonuan bangus, because ours is of high-quality,” he said.

He acknowledged that the DTI is helping bangus producers, processors, and input suppliers sell their produce in the world market.

Mangabat said the DTI is  willing to provide equipment for processing under the Self-Service Facility (SSF) program of the agency.

The SSF program could be availed of for free by legitimate associations and cooperatives provided that they make use of the facilities for the purpose for which they were intended, he said.

Mangabat cited   one recipient – the Pangasinan-Dagupan Bangus Producers Association.

Mangabat assured Dagupan would  receive its own equipment this year, which should be used for training interested producers and processors, pointing out that the DTI has earmarked P3 million worth of equipment for the whole province.

At the same time, Eduardo C. Maramba, chairman,of the Milkfish Technical Working Group Industry Cluster, lamented that the country is now far behind Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan in terms of bangus production.

“Right in our country, Pangasinan lags behind Saranggani,” Maramba said, even as he called for the establishment of more bangus hatcheries here.