Olutanga, Zamboanga Sibugay – Here is an opportunity for our Overseas Filipino Wortkers (OFWs) who are looking for investment opportunities and a way to help their countrymen in Mindanao.
Lapulapu Fish Cage Growers of the Island of Olutanga, Zamboanga Sibugay need partners to help them develop this lucrative aquaculture activity which produces live Grouper for a niche market.
The Grouper or Lapulapu breeds in the wild in many areas of the island and all that fishermen do is catch the fingerlings using bamboo traps and place these in grower cages where they are kept for about 6 months to 10 months before they are harvested.
When I visited Olutanga Island last week, fishermen said they are looking forward to financiers who could provide them with more modern fish cages and access to the market.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will now craft a program which would link up the fishermen and the OFWs into a partnership without much financial exposure on the part of the OFWs.
In the initial concept that MinDA is crafting, the OFWs will be partnered with a group of Lapulapu Growers by just providing them with the modern Norweigian-type fish cages.
This comes with the contract that the OFWs will have the marketing rights on the Lapulapu harvested from the fish cages.
I am now personally engaging a group of friends who own a Boeing 727 Cargo Plane which could be used in shipping the live Grouper from the Zamboanga Sibugay to the luicrative markets of Metro Manila or even Hongkong.
Details of this proposed investment program for OFWs will be shared later and an on-line briefing will be conducted.
Grouper or Lapulapu Fish Cage Farming is a lucrative income-earning activity which fishermen in the area could undertake if only given the needed support and protection.
The island, along with several coastal towns of Zamboanga Sibugay, is a natural habitat for a family of Grouper or Lapulapu which breeds in the brackish waters.
The Lapulapu fingerlings are easily harvested by fishermen using a traditional method.
They are then reared in the waters where they are hatched until they are large enough to be transferred to fish cages in the coastal areas.
They stay in the fish cages for a few months shedding off their black scales and turn into beautiful and large Lapulapu with yellow spots making them look like the “Desert Storm” camouflage.
The Grouper could weigh as much as 1 kilo each at 10 months old.
Each live Lapulapu could fetch as much as P1,000 to as much as P2,000 during the Chinese New Year.
Olutanga Mayor Arthur Ruste Jr. said the enthusiasm of fishermen to grow Lapulapu was dampened by the unscrupulous traders who manipulate the prices.
The interest in Lapulapu farming could be reignited by the initiatives of the Duterte Administration to develop Fisheries and Aquaculture in Mindanao.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has identified Olutanga as one of the 22 proposed sites to be included in the planned “Fish Centers” under the Mindanao Fisheries and Aquaculture Develoment (MINFAD) Program.
The MINFAD Program is proposed by MinDA for inclusion in the Mindanao Rise Program which a support grant fund of P2.1-B from the European Union.
The “Fish Centers” will introduce the Complete Value Chain System which ensure that agriculture and fisheries stakeholders get the full value of their produce.
#LetsWalkAnExtraKilometer!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#LetsSailTheSeasToDiscover!
(Photos of the Olutanga Lapulapu Farms taken by the Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao Media Team. A video production will be posted shortly.)
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