To further equip local fisherfolks on the technology in fishery production, a 3-day training on organic feed formulation was conducted on August 5-7, 2014 at Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources- Regional Fishery Training Center (BFAR-RFTC) in Panabo City, Davao del Norte.

Twenty three (23) fisherfolks from Sultan Mastura and Matungao under the Community Development in Conflict Affected Areas in Mindanao (CD-CAAM) project implemented by Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) participated in the said training.

During the training, participants learned the basics of feed-making from ingredient preparation down to packaging including feed management practices and environmental awareness, as well as the utilization of locally available feed ingredients.

In the actual demonstration of feed making, the participants have produced starter and grower feeds doing all the processes from grinding, mixing, drying, pelletizing, fermenting, and packaging.

Among the topics discussed to participant is the importance of home-made organic feed.

According Andrew M. Ventura, Director of BFAR-RFTC, through the home made feed, fisherfolk will be able to minimize total cost of production thus increasing the income.

“About 75% of the total production cost of culturing tilapia goes to feeds,” Ventura said.

Inorac Dibaratun, Municipal Planning Development Coordinator (MPDC) of Matungao shared of his previous disbelief of home-made feed formulation since commercial feeds are available in the market. Through the training, his perception was changed realizing the importance of which in increasing the income in fishery production.

Another participant, from local government unit of Sultan Mastura likewise shared appreciation of the training. He stressed of the importance of the process to the sustainability of the project.

The training was new to participants and there was a challenge on getting the understanding of the participants.

As strategy, lecturer provided actual demonstration of the process which helped participants understand better the topic. Used of local dialects likewise helped in relaying the information effectively.

Other resource persons during the training were Karen Candilosas, Training Specialist and Katherene Bentoy, Technical Assistant of BFAR-RFTC Region XI.

The CD-CAAM pilot project is implemented by BDA in partnership with Japan International Cooperative Agency ( JICA) and ICNet Limited.