AGRI CHIEF VISITS TILAPIA ENTERPRISE IN RAMON, ISABELA
After the program at Isabela State University in Echague, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar accompanied by Gov. Rodito Albano III, RED Narciso A. Edillo, Cong. Allan Ty, Asec. William Medrano, Mayor Jesus Laddaran, Mayor Larry Pagauitan, and RTD Rose Mary G. Aquino visited the 23 million pesos-worth Tilapia Production and Marketing Enterprise managed by Ramon Cordon Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative (RAMFARMCO) in Planas, Ramon, Isabela.
“Ramon is the home of Magat Dam and I see you are now engaged in rice-fish farming which is your competitive edge and which is very appropriate now. The Department of Agriculture will assist you as you venture into both. Right now, the tilapia enterprise is fully operational,” Dar, who inspected the communal fishponds of the cooperative before the program in Planas said.
He encouraged the members and officers of the cooperative to expand the operations of the enterprise in the harvest of its 1st Production Cycle which will commence on December 14, 2019.
Meanwhile, Mayor Jesus D. Laddaran said the Local Government Unit of Ramon plans to assist the farmers who desire to venture into tilapia fish culture by preparing their fishponds for free. Part of the plan is to purchase two excavators to this effect.
‘’This will help them contend with the price in palay. Further, we have 362 hectares of fishpond complementing the rice areas. This will be very significant in pursuing our aspiration to make Ramon the Tilapia Capital of the Philippines,” Laddaran said.
The World Bank task team during its 9th Implementation and Support Mission which kicked off in Ramon assessed the enterprise and rated it as impressive. The Oscariz-Nagbacalan farm-to-market road (FMR) which directly supports the enterprise was likewise assessed by the task team.
Recently turned over to the beneficiaries, the enterprise has a sharing scheme of 8.7 million pesos from the World Bank, 2.9 million pesos from the Department of Agriculture, 2.9 million pesos from the Local Government Unit and 8.5 million pesos from the Proponent Group, implemented under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Secretary Dar is in the Region for the celebration of the 41st Cagayan Valley Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Research Development (CVARRD) Anniversary and other official business in Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya. (Ferdinand N Cortez, RPCO2 InfoACE Unit)
