soybean field

USSEC Conducts Farmers’ Field Day in Philippines

USSEC Southeast Asia conducted a Farmers’ Field Day on April 10 in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines. Held at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) – Regional National Mariculture Center (NMC) Training Center in Panabo Mariculture Park, the field day was attended by USSEC technical managers for aquaculture Levy Lorento Manalac (Philippines) and M. Pamudi (Indonesia), as well as USSEC SEA Technical Director - Aquaculture Lukas Manomaitis and USSEC Asia Marine Aquaculture Specialist Lan Hsiang Pin.

Participants in the USSEC Farmers Field Day Seminar in BFAR-NMC Training Hall in Panabo Mariculture Park, Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines
Participants in the USSEC Farmers Field Day Seminar in BFAR-NMC Training Hall in Panabo Mariculture Park, Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines

The objective of the Farmers’ Field Day was to share the information and data collected from the FY12-FY13 USSEC milkfish feeding demonstration project using the Low Volume High Density milkfish cage culture in cooperation with the BFAR-RFTCEC milkfish farm and Santeh Feeds Corp. as the feedmill cooperator.
In the opening and welcome remarks, Dr. Andrew M. Ventura, Center Chief of BFAR National Mariculture Center, acknowledged the technical support provided by USSEC through the BFAR-NMC program in helping to improve the fish cage aquaculture in the Philippines.
Mr. Manalac presented “USSEC’s Milkfish Feeding Demonstration Project – Preparation and Results.” Sharing their respective experiences working with USSEC were Albert Lanojan, manager of Regional Fisheries Training Center Employees Cooperative (RFTCEC), Panabo Mariculture Park, and Diomede Bucog Jr., area sales manager of Santeh Feeds Corp.
Mr. Manomaitis welcomed the participants with an introduction to USSEC’s Soy in Aquaculture program, and also presented the topic of “Industrialized Marine Fish Aquaculture - Benchmarks for ASEAN Aquaculture for Future Improvement.” Mr. Pamudi went on to share “Indonesia’s Milkfish Hatchery and Grow-out Industry.”
Mr. Lan spoke on “Fish Health Management Program for Fish Cage Culture in Panabo Mariculture Park”, while Katherine B. Bentoy, who is in charge of the BFAR-NMC Satellite Fish Lab, shared iformation about fish health management in Panabo Mariculture Park.

(L-R) M. Pamudi, Indonesia USSEC Technical Manager-Aquaculture; Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Asia Marine Aquaculture Specialist; Lukas Manomaitis, USSEC SEA Technical Director – Aquaculture; and Levy Loreto Manalac, USSEC Philippines Technical Manager – Aquaculture, at the BFAR-NMC Office, Panabo Mariculture Park, Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines
(L-R) M. Pamudi, Indonesia USSEC Technical Manager-Aquaculture; Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Asia Marine Aquaculture Specialist; Lukas Manomaitis, USSEC SEA Technical Director – Aquaculture; and Levy Loreto Manalac, USSEC Philippines Technical Manager – Aquaculture, at the BFAR-NMC Office, Panabo Mariculture Park, Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines

The USSEC Farmers’ Field Day was attended by 45 participants representing cage owners, feed managers, technicians, feed millers, hatcheries, BFAR-NMC staff and investors.