MANILA, Philippines — A food festival was held last December 28 at the Las Brisas Resort in Antipolo City aimed at promoting the production as well as consumption of Pangasius, the fish from Vietnam which we are importing in big volumes at a high cost.

The Philippines can produce Pangasius which is a hardy and fast-growing freshwater fish, according to Dr. Aida Palma of the Tanay Research Station of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

The fish can subsist on natural foods in the pond as well as fruit and vegetable trimmings from the farm. It can grow to one kilo after six months of culture and sold at about P80 per kilo ex-farm.

The production of more Pangasius could save the country a lot of dollars, according to Dr. Palma. She said that as much as 5,000 to 6,000 tons of fillet are imported by Filipino traders per month. These imports are sold to hotels and restaurants as Cream Dory fish. Its white meat is fine-textured and tasty.

The food festival was under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-Rizal), the Philippine
Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the province, the BFAR Tanay Research Station, the provincial
government headed by Gov. Junjun Ynares, and the St. Martha Farm of Gen. Jewel Canson and wife Cecile.

Earlier, the same groups launched Pangasius as another food fish at the Taytay market to familiarize the market vendors with the fish.

Mercy Parreño of DTI-Rizal said the province has adopted Pangasius as its flagship project which could provide livelihood to many farmers. Rizal, she said, is in the best position to undertake production of Pangasius because the resources are right in the province.

The biggest Pangasius fingerling producer is right in Teresa town – the St. Martha Farm. Also, the Tanay Research Center of BFAR is the national research and training center for Pangasius.

The ultimate aim is to link together all the stakeholders like the fish farmers, the fingerling producers, the inputs suppliers, the fish processors, the fish vendors, the hotels and restaurants.

Of course, Pangasius production is also being promoted outside Rizal. Malou Toledo of the DTI in the Calabarzon region said that Pangasius production is also being promoted in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon. What is needed now are processing plants that will add value to the harvests of the farmers.

At the Pangasius food festival, chefs from the leading restaurants in Rizal prepared various dishes using Pangasius.

These included kinilaw, baked, steamed, grilled and other preparations. The attendees that numbered more than a hundred had a grand time tasting the different dishes.