MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan—Vigorous growth in the country’s aquaculture may come to a sudden halt due to increasing price of farm inputs and lack of understanding of political leaders.

This revelation came on the opening day of the three-day Third Tilapia Congress held at Paskuhan Village in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga on Thursday.

Simeon Sioson, a rice farmer from San Miguel town who shifted to tilapia culture four years ago told the STAR that like rice, the country’s aquaculture may soon suffer the same fate.

He said that rice production in the country dropped due to lack of proper guidance and increasing imports by the government.

“Dati, kapag nagbenta ka ng isang kabang palay, makakabili ka ng dalawang kabang fertilizer, pero ngayon, baligtad na,” Sioson said.

This situation convinced him to convert a part of his rice land in the upland town of San Miguel into tilapia pond where is he is earning at least P40,000 per harvest from his half hectare pond.

He said that converting his Riceland into a pond came in easy as he used to have as a small farm reservoir to supply water to his rice land.

According to Rodolfo Mendoza, the municipal agriculture officer of San Miguel, more farmers are shifting to tilapia culture since they introduce it years ago.

At present, Mendoza said that there at least 70 hectares in San Miguel used for tilapia production and the number is still increasing.

He however said, farm inputs needed for tilapia production is bigger than in rice production, but farmers earn more in aquaculture than in rice production.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Undersecretary Salvador Salacup told hundreds of participants to the opening of the three day Tilapia Congress in Pampanga on Thursday that political factors must not be discounted in tilapia production.

In a prepared speech, he said that “overall support for an agricultural program decreases when politicians fail to grasp its importance.”

He added, “not all out political leaders have a clear understanding of agriculture.”

However, despite his revelations, the country’s aquaculture posted 8% growth last year earning about P49-Billion for the local economy.

Remedios Ongtangco, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director for Central Luzon reported that the region remains as the Tilapia Capital of the Philippines.

She said that last year, Central Luzon produced a total of 66,262 metric ton of tilapia which is 45% of the country’s total tilapia production.

Considered as the fastest growing fish farming sector in the country, tilapia culture posted an average growth rate of 14% annually since 1998.

Ongtangco said the Philippines is now the fourth largest tilapia producing country in the world, behind China, Mexico and Thailand.

Pampanga Provincial Agriculture Officer Mario Mangaliman said that tilapia was only introduced in the country 56 years ago when a Filipino scientist brought in a Mozambique tilapia to local farmers.