1st SAAVI Tilapia Hybrid! ‘You Can Breed & Name Your Fish And Eat It Too!’

The greatest joy of a Tilapia breeder is to hear from the people supporting his efforts that his fish “tastes really good!”
This was the verdict of the members of the Board of Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures, Inc., a young company which I, former Senator Ping Lacson and five other friends formed in 2022, when they tasted the Tilapia raised in our Multi-Species Hatchery in Kidapawan City.
One of the projects of SAAVI, aside from our Sorghum Production Program, is a Multi-Species Hatchery in located in my farm in Paco, Kidapawan City.
Handled by Fil-Am farmer-scientist and Tilapia breeder Rocky French, the Hatchery has developed its first hybrid by cross-breeding two local strains from the farm of former Secretary Mike Sueno and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) hatchery in Kabacan, North Cotabato.
The result is our first hybrid, SAAVI PML71-A, whose fingerlings are now available in Size 20, 17, 14 and 12.
Yesterday, during our first Board Meeting for 2024, Rocky and I brought about a dozen of our Tilapia from the farm which was served in an early dinner.
Sen. Ping Lacson had two fried Tilapias which he took with sliced red tomatos.
The other Directors each had their share and they all agreed that our Tilapia tasted very good.
“Hindi amoy gilik at firm ang laman,” was the observation made by our Chairman Ping Lacson.
The successful taste-test did not come easy and fast.
It took Rocky months to come up with the right genetic combination to produce the first hybrid adaptable to the climate and water quality and temperature of Kidapawan City and the surrounding areas.
In fact, he had to bring in fry feeds from the U.S. to make sure that he will grow healthy fingerlings.
So, the Board gave its approval for the marketing of the fingerlings of SAAVI PML71-A Tilapia Hybrid abd these could now be shared with fish farmers in the area.
By the way, PML71 stands for Panfilo Morena Lacson Class 71 PMA while the letter “A” is the code letter of our first hybrid.
Indeed, you can have and name your fish and eat it too! 😀
(Photos by Nonoy Casumpang, SAAVI)