Pangasinan women find livelihood opportunities from milkfish processing

MANILA, Philippines – Milkfish processing business has become a  profitable source of income for a group of women who used to spend their afternoons playing tong-its, enabling them to earn their first million pesos through sheer hardwork.

But success didn’t come easy for the Binmaley (Pangasinan) Rural Improvement Club Seafood Products as it as it had its share of ups and downs.

Milagros Buenafe, president of Binmaley, told The STAR she originally intended their livelihood project to encourage her fellow mothers to be productive, instead of spending their time playing card games like tong-its.

Buenafe recalled they started doing their produce under a mango tree in her residence and they would go around to sell their goods.

Unfortunately, their livelihood didn’t last as her groupmates stopped remitting their sales.  This, however, did not stop Buenafe from doing business.

She attended seminars and was lucky to get a share of the loan availed by the wife of their late mayor from the provincial government which bankrolled their  second attempt to do business.

As their efforts to keep their small business going despite the hardships, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Department of Science and Technology noticed the group and offered the women technical and equipment assistance.

The local government also provided them trainings.

Joining trade fairs not only in Pangasinan but also as far as Manila proved fruitful to them as they expanded their links with other businessmen.

Today, their products are sold in Palawan, Tuguegarao, Laguna, Antipolo, Baguio, and in the cities of Makati and  Mandaluyong.

“We are happy we prospered. We had P1 millon sales last year,” Buenafe said.

She said the enterprise’s peak season is from November to May when volumes of orders from valued clients come in.