New Year’s Gift! SAAVI New Tilapia Hybrid Ready For Release Jan. 8

As the country welcomes the New Year, our young company, Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures, Inc. celebrates the New Year by presenting to our Chairman, former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson our first Tilapia Hybrid, SAAVI PML71-A.
SAAVI, of course, stands for our company while PML71 is a tribute to the former Senator, Panfilo M. Lacson, member of Class 71 of the Philippine Military Academy.
It was Sen. Lacson who organized a group of friends to form our agri corporation last year and support our agricultural projects in Mindanao.
One of these projects is the Multi-Species Hatchery aimed at producing quality fingerlings of freshwater fish to farmers of Mindanao, a project managed and supervised by Filipino-American farmer-scientist Rocky French, an aquaculturist.
Established in a property in Paco, Kidapawan City owned by my daughter, Dr. Josa Bernadette Piñol, the Multi-Species Hatchery is now ready to release the first batch of fingerlings on Jan. 8.
The SAAVI-PML71-A is actually a cross-breeding of locally available Tilapia strains which we obtained from the farm of former Interior Secretary Mike Sueno and the BFAR Hatchery in Kabacan, North Cotabato.
The letter “A” stands for our first Hybrid because we hope to develop more Hybrids in the months to come.
Unlike other hatcheries, however, the SAAVI Hatchery will only sell “large” fingerlings, preferably Size 20, 17, 14 and 12 to ensure higher survival in the farmer’s pond.
Farmers who would like to avail of the fingerlings will have to undergo orientation on proper pond preparation which includes free water testing to determine the viability of the project and pond cleaning prior to the release of the fingerlings.
Rocky, who had spent over 40 years of his life breeding and raising Tilapia, will also make a recommendation on the ideal feeds for efficient growth.
Our purpose is to make sure that the Tilapia farmers will make money from his fishpond through proper processes and correct feeds.
For the month of January, the first batch of fingerlings will only be about 40,000 and these will be Sizes 17, 14 and 12 each costing P2, P3 and P3.50, respectively.
These prices are quite high but since the survival rate is higher than buying the smaller fingerlings, the farmer will generate more profit in the end.
More fingerlings will be produced in the coming months as more breeders reach maturity.
Those interested could visit our Hatchery at Barangay Paco, Kidapawan City to see Rocky French personally or contact Joyce Tupas at 0967-403-3666.
#TheDreamNeverDies!
#FoodSelfSufficiency!