[PERSPECTIVE]
Farmed Tilapia Production in the Philippines Is Declining: What Has Happened and What Can Be Done
Rafael D. Guerrero III*
National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines
Philippine Heritage Center, DOST Compound, Taguig City
Metro Manila, Philippines
*Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
Tilapia is the second most important farmed fish in the Philippines produced in ponds, cages, and pens. While from 2001 to 2011 there was an increase in the production of farmed tilapia by 240%, the production increase was only 7% from 2007 to 2016. An assessment of the farmed tilapia production for 2007–2016 was done using data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for total annual production and annual production according to the culture system. Results showed that the average annual production rate (AAPR) was only 0.7% for the period, 4.8% for brackishwater ponds, 1.5% for freshwater pens, 1.3% for freshwater cages, and 1.1% for freshwater ponds. Brackishwater ponds throughout the country, freshwater ponds in Mindanao, and marine coastal water cages are seen to have a high potential for growth. From focus group discussions and key informant interviews with 55 tilapia farmers in Luzon and Mindanao, the major causes for the low production of farmed tilapia identified were “High Water Temperature” (68%), “Lack of Government Assistance” (58%), “Poor Breed of Tilapia” (48%), “High Cost of Production” (46%), and “Lack of Capital” (44%). Measures are recommended for addressing the major causes of low production.
INTRODUCTION
The tilapia is the second most important farmed fish in the Philippines next to milkfish (Chanos chanos). While the milkfish is an indigenous fish, the Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) was first introduced in the country in 1950 from Thailand followed by the Nile tilapia (O. niloticus) in 1972 and other species (O. aureus, O. hornorum, Coptodon zillii, and Sarotherodon melanotheron). The per capita availability of tilapia for Filipinos was 2.8 kg/y in 2016 compared to 2.5 kg/y for milkfish (PSA 2018). . . . read more
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