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Fish Makers As Peace Makers – The Abra Fish Cage Livelihood Project

We are in the border of Ilocos Sur and Abra, in Pilar, landlocked town 2 of whose villages are “conflict-affected” – Nagcanasan and Ocup. In the Facebook sharing of Noel Ocampo Reyes, who is the spokesperson and Assistant Secretary for Communications & Media Affairs of the Department of Agriculture (DA), we are looking at 2 units of fish cage techno-demo projects installed in the Pagada River that passes through those villages.

This effort of establishing a fish source was the initiative of the 81stInfantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. The idea came about during the soldiers’ “Serbisyo Caravan” (Service Caravan) last 24 November 2020. After that, the soldiers coordinated with the Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Provincial Fisheries Office in Abra to identify what fisheries intervention was feasible in the Pagada River.

Four months after the Service Caravan, BFAR, the local government unit of Pilar, in partnership with the Community Support Program of the Charlie Company, 81st Infantry Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, Philippine Army, through Commanding Officer 1LT Arthur Rey B Aranggo, executed the stocking of tilapia fingerlings in the river (above images).

Rodelio D Diaz, speaking for the Nagcanasan fishers, said the eagerness to put up a fish cage started last year, as their fish supply still came from the town of Bangued in Abra, a 2-hour drive with a jeepney fare of P400. I say, you produce your own and save much on costs.

Mr Diaz was happy:

We are very thankful that even in the remotest area in Pilar, our barangay… Nagcanasan, we are still able to receive livelihood assistance from the government.

In Barangay Ucop, Juanito D Dela Cruz Jr said, “We will religiously do the record keeping to show the feasibility of producing fish in our area because we wanted to produce food for our (families)."

Record keeping – This is quite welcome and a revelation! I have been writing on Filipino farmers for 13 years, and this is the first time a farmer talks about record keeping. In short, he wants to know where the money goes and how much comes out with his efforts. A good business sense that most farmers lack.

The tilapia fingerlings were sourced from San Ramon East, Manabo, Abra through Lym Pait, a fisher beneficiary of the research cum extension project funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research and implemented by the National Fisheries & Development Institute, National Freshwater Fisheries Technology Center of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and BFAR Cordillera Administrative Region.

BFAR Regional Director Lilibeth L Signey said each of the units includes 4 modules (cages) stocked with 6,000 tilapia fingerlings. The assistance comes with bags of fish feeds good for 3-4 months. Ms Lilibeth said, “A yield of almost 2 metric tons is projected after 4 months.”

This End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) initiative is based on PRRD’s Executive Order 70 series 2018 institutionalizing the “Whole-of-Nation” Approach to end local insurgency as a necessary step to gain sustainable and inclusive peace. This is ELCAC Fish for Peace!@517

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