WB-Assisted Project In Pangasinan To Produce 100-M Bangus Fry

The soon-to-be-constructed milkfish breeding and hatchery project in Pangasinan, assisted by the World Bank, is poised to produce up to 100 million bangus fry and 48 million bangus larvae annually.

The project is aimed at further supporting the government's effort to improve farmers' and fishermen's access to markets as well as increase income from selected agri-fishery value chains. I Photo: Philippine Information Agency

Pangasinan is the country's leading producer of bangus, contributing over 28 percent of the country's total production.

Provincial Governor Ramon Guico III said the demand for bangus fry and larvae in the province alone reaches over 500 million annually.

"Most of the bangus fry and larvae are being imported from other countries like Indonesia, whereas with our breeding and hatchery area, it will now be locally sourced," he said.

The breeding and hatchery project, which will begin construction in 2024 at the agriculture field station in the village of Arnedo in Bolinao town, is worth PHP 239 million. The WB will shoulder 80 percent of the cost, while the share of the national government and the provincial government will be at 10 percent each.

Around 17 municipalities in the province are expected to benefit from the project, specifically about 39,399 fisherfolk, 63 bangus nursery operators, and a bangus satellite hatchery operator.

The project's components include seven units of broodstock tanks, 120 units of larval rearing tanks, 24 units of rotifer tanks, an administrative and laboratory building, staff quarters, a triplex building, a two-unit pump house, and an intake pump, according to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.

The project is aimed at further supporting the government's effort to improve farmers' and fishermen's access to markets as well as increase income from selected agri-fishery value chains.

It is under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale-Up of the Department of Agriculture.

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