Road To Fish Sufficiency! Village Mill To Produce Aqua Feeds In 2 Weeks

Small fishpond and fish cage farmers in the Southern Mindanao area may soon find relief from the short supply of Aqua Feeds whose prices had also shot up over the last few months.

Fil-Am farmer-sicientist Rocky French, who arrived in Kidapawan City yesterday, said the small village Feed Mill owned by the Cotabato Livestock Producers Association (COLIPA) could start producing Aqua Feeds for test feeding in two weeks.

After inspecting the new village feed mill which was funded with a P10-M grant to COLIPA by the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in 2017, French said he found the equipment satisfactory and capable of producing quality feeds.

He checked the mill’s generator, hammer mill, mixer and pelletizers and declared that the small mill could produce daily at least 20-metric tons of feeds, both Aqua for the fisheries sector, and poultry for the members of COLIPA.

French said his feed formulation would heavily use local available materials to bring down the cost due to the increase in the price of the imported Soybean Meal which is preferred by most feed millers.

The first Aqua Feeds produced in the mill will initially be tested in local Catfish, Tilapia and Bangus farms to determine its performance based on the fats and growth of the fish.

“A two-week feeding trial would be enough to determine whether we are producing good feeds,” he said.

The COLIPA Village Feed Mill which had just been inaugurated and had never been used will be operated by French under a tolling agreement to produce Aqua Feeds for the Mariculture Project that I and a group of retired US Navy Officers led by Samson Mante of Salinas, California will establish in Parang, Maguindanao and other parts of Mindanao.

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

(Photos of the inspection of the feed mill yesterday were taken by Bong Piñol.)