Filipino livestock growers and fish producers are cautiously optimistic for the agriculture sector’s prospects in 2022 despite myriad challenges the past two years.

In a forum hosted by food security advocacy group Tugon Kabuhayan, local tilapia and bangus producers said they continue to invest and expand capacity even with limited or no government support.

“All we ask is for the next administration to ensure ease of doing business and to stop excessive fish imports,” Taal Lake Aquaculture Alliance Inc. (TLAAI) spokesperson Adrienne Nera said.

For his part, National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. President Chester Warren Tan said local hog raisers encountered difficulties in transporting pork products across the country.

“The local hog industry has been hit double whammy— we had to deal with the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak and also COVID-19. Right now, the biggest challenge we are facing is on the transportation side, particularly on delivering our products from Visayas and Mindanao to Luzon,” Tan said.

“We hope the new government will study the procurement of transport vehicles such as vessels and trucks because for the past years, for the past decades, the private sector is handling it. We should replicate what other countries are doing such as providing subsidies, they have their own government-owned vehicles, even vessels,” he added.

Finfish Hatcheries, Inc. Assistant Vice President for Sales Renato Bocaya also said local hatcheries are able to produce less than half of the country’s milkfish fry requirement.

“Just to give you an idea, the national demand for milkfish fry is about 2.7 billion pieces. However, local hatcheries are can only fulfill about 1 billion pieces of the country’s total requirement... maybe around 200 million we're getting from the wild. The remainder we import, mainly from Indonesia,” Bocaya said.

Right now, Christopher Tan of Oroseas Aquaventure Inc. and MLDT Aquaculture said growers find it hard to source feeds to boost the country’s bangus (milkfish) production.

“Some growers stopped raising bangus due to insufficient supply of feeds. We believe that’s the main problem now,” Tan said.

As for the aquaculture sector, in Taal which went on lockdown even before the pandemic due to Taal’s eruption, local producers were able to boost their output.

“In spite of the challenges, we added more cages. Right now, we have additional 3,000 cages and our production is continuous. However, our sales declined due to the pandemic,” Nera added. In general, however, Frabelle Group President Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the year 2020 was not a good year for fisheries sector due to weather conditions.

“2020 was better so if we go by the cycle, 2022 should be as good as 2020. It should be better than this year,” Laurel said.

“Now, we’re taking a break because of the closed fishing season and looking forward to next year 2022 where we hope to catch more fish than this year,” he added.