By Manny Piñol
In May of this year, shortly after President Rody Duterte named me as his Agriculture Secretary, I started a journey which I called “Biyaheng Bukid” which brought me to almost all parts of the country.
It was an eye opener for me and I learned a lot from the travel which admittedly was rigorous and difficult but which proved to be an enriching experience.
In Aklan, accompanied by Congressman Lito Marquez and Board Member Noli Sodusta, I talked to a fishpond operator, Bert Buyoc, whose lament was the neglect by government and the financing institutions of an industry which is providing so much contributions to the country’s food production.
Hearing out Bert Buyoc, I learned that owners of fishponds have difficulty getting loans and financing mainly because they could not use as collaterals the lease agreements they have with government over their fishpond areas.
Last Monday, in the first board meeting of the Land Bank of the Philippines which I attended, I brought to the attention of the officials of the country’s biggest government bank the pathetic state of the aquaculture and mariculture industry.
(The Secretaries of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Labor and Finance automatically occupy board seats in Land Bank with the Finance Secretary assuming the Chairmanship.)
I stressed that unless government financing institutions come up with a sizable funding for the inland fisheries, fishponds and fish cages industries, there will be an acute shortage of fish supply in the country.
This is made more urgent by the recent directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to dismantle the fishpens in Laguna de Bay and other lakes in the country.
The Presidential directive will have an impact on the supply and prices of fish in the country’s wet markets, especially Metro Manila, which gets 36% of its fish supply from Laguna de Bay.
The Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will undertake the following measures:
1. Nation-wide distribution of fishing boats to poor fisherfolk in the rich fishing grounds of the country to increase the country’s catch in the municipal waters;
2. Establishment of cold storage and ice-making facilities in the various fishing ports all over the country;
3. Development of a new fish farming method, the Eco-Friendly Fish Farming Technology, which uses concrete fish tanks to be established along big rivers and surrounding the lakes.
4. Development of fish cages in the different coves and bays of the country;
5. Improvement of the technology for fishpond operators all over the country.
In an official memorandum I submitted as member of the Land Bank board, I asked the bank to support these efforts by:
1. Financing the acquisition of medium-sized fishing boats to established fishing groups or cooperatives;
2. Providing a loan portfolio for the establishment by LGUs of cold storage or ice making facilities;
3. Providing loans for the establishment of Eco-Friendly Fish Farming System by private corporations or companies and even individuals with sufficient knowledge on fish farming;
4. Providing loans for the establishment of Norwegian fish cages and mariculture facilities;
5. Providing loan packages for private fishpond operators who are holding lease agreements for fishpond areas in the different parts of the country.
I emphasized that if these measures are implemented by the LBP, the country could yet assert itself as one of the top marine and aqua products players in the whole world.
More than that, the support given to the operators of fishponds, inland fish farming and fish cages will ensure a steady and sufficient supply of fish in the country and provide economic activities in the countryside.
Land Bank Chairman Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez, who is also Finance Secretary, endorsed my memorandum to the bank’s board during Monday’s meeting.
Himself a former agriculture secretary, Sonny Dominguez, surely understood the merits of my recommendations.
(First two photos show Aklan Cong. Marquez, Board Member Noli Sodusta and fishpond operator Bert Buyoc during my visit in a fishpond area in New Washington, Aklan Province in May. Other photos were downloaded from Google.)
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