Currents

THE INTRODUCED TILAPIA is the second most important farmed or cultured fish in the country next to our native milkfish. In 2016, we produced 300,720 metric tons (MT) of tilapia (mainly the Nile tilapia) from farms (86%) and fishing from inland waters (14%) with a value of R24 billion. Our production of farmed tilapia in 2015 was 260,966 MT with 54% coming from freshwater ponds, 30% from freshwater cages, 8% from freshwater pens and 7% from brackishwater ponds. Most of the farmed tilapia production was from Luzon (92%), with Mindanao and the Visayas contributing only 6% and 2%, respectively. Luzon (69%) and Mindanao (31%) were interviewed through focus group discussions and key informants. Of the 55 respondents, 38 or 72% said that their tilapia production decreased by 52.4% on the average in the last five years. Socioeconomic, technological, institutional, and climatic factors that could cause the decline in farmed tilapia production were presented in a structured questionnaire. The major factors identified by the farmers were “High Water Temperature” (68%), “Lack of Government Assistance” (58%), “Poor Breed of Tilapia” (48%) “High Cost of Production” (46%), and “Lack of Capital” (44%).

From the AAPRs of the various tilapia culture systems, the study concluded that brackishwater