QC hog raisers given aquaculture starter kits
Vacant and abandoned pigpens of ASF-affected hog raisers will be converted into fish tanks suitable for tilapia and catfish culture.
To beef up food security and provide livelihood to residents, the Quezon City local government and the Department of Agriculture (DA) will be turning over urban aquaculture starter kits to 60 identified beneficiaries from Barangay Bagong Silangan and Payatas.
DA Undersecretary Marie Natividad-Caballero and Eduardo Gongona, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources national director, will be attending today’s ceremonial turnover and stocking of fingerlings at Pinagbuklod Area 5 in Sitio Veterans.
The project will provide 60 units of filtration systems, 10,000 pieces of catfish and 9,000 pieces of tilapia fingerlings, including one cycle of feeds, that will serve as a starter kit for the beneficiaries.
They were mostly hog raisers who lost their livelihoods to the African swine fever (ASF) in 2019.
“We must put empty pigpens and vacant lots to good use by turning them into fish pens and backyard fishponds where we can grow tilapia and catfish,” city officials said.
Officials hoped through this project, they could provide livelihood to hog raisers who lost their primary sources of income to ASF.
The urban aquaculture project will help boost local food supply in the city amid the pandemic.
Under this project, vacant and abandoned pigpens of ASF-affected hog raisers will be converted into fish tanks suitable for tilapia and catfish culture.
It will employ recirculating aquaculture system, which provides and maintains good water quality that is suitable for faster fish growth.
The project is estimated to produce 1.58 metric tons of catfish and 1.29 metric tons of tilapia per cycle.