The local government of Quezon City and the Department of Agriculture (DA) turned over urban aquaculture starter kits to 60 beneficiaries from Barangay Bagong Silangan and Payatas on Friday.
The aquaculture starter kit will help provide livelihood to residents of the city, mostly hog raisers who lost their livelihood in 2019 due to African Swine Fever (ASF).
“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 hito,” Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
A total of 60 units of filtration system, 10,000 pieces hito, and 9,000 pieces tilapia fingerlings including one cycle of feeds as a starter pack that will help the beneficiaries.
Mayor Belmonte and DA Undersecretary for Fisheries Marie Natividad-Caballero and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) National Director Eduardo Gongona attended the turnover and stocking of fingerlings at Pinagbuklod Area 5 in Sitio Veterans.
As part of this project, vacant and abandoned pigpens of the hog raisers affected by ASF will be converted into fish tanks for tilapia and hito.
It will employ a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) that provides and maintains good water quality suitable for faster fish growth.
An estimated 1.58 metric tons of hito and 1.29 metric tons of tilapia per cycle will be produced under this project.