The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has tapped the expertise of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center - Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) to develop a PHP 30 million (USD 551,000) commercial-scale aquafeed mill in Western Visayas for cost-effective feed.

The project under the National Fisheries Program plans to build aquafeed mills in strategic locations in the country but will be piloted in Calabarzon and Mimaropa. In Western Visayas, particularly in Panay Island, the feed mill is eyed at the main station of the SEAFDEC in Tigbauan, Iloilo with a fund support of PHP 30 million and a counterpart fund of PHP 250,000 (USD 4,600) from the center.

“Establishing a feed mill plant for cost-efficient feeds will likely invigorate the fisheries sector and help the country ensure food security by producing high-quality feeds at a reasonable price. This is also one way of increasing and sustaining aquaculture production of finfishes and cages in the area,” SEAFDEC/AQD chief Dan Baliao said.

Baliao said 60% of the production cost goes to feeds, thus deterring aquaculture production. “We have to come up with a formulation that will cost less but still be efficient. We have formulated the feeds that cost less than the commercial feeds,” he concluded.