MANILA, Philippines — A farmer in Southern Leyte has taught his colleagues a lesson in entrepreneurship by making money on an enterprise based on freshwater prawn, also known as “ulang.”

Benjamin G. Gerona Jr. has blazed the trail in the culture of ulang along tilapia culture and vegetables in his town, which is hardly the base for such an enterprise.

With an investment of only P34,400, Gerona had a return of 32 percent.

This has encouraged officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City, Leyte to find out if ulang production could be expanded by putting up more hatcheries to remove one of the most critical hurdles in the expansion of prawn yield.

The target is actually the Japan market, which spends $2 billion annually in prawn exports. The Philippines used to be a big prawn producer until viral diseases ruined the industry.

Thailand now supplies the bulk of prawns for the Japanese market, and the country bids to match its 7 percent share of the market in the 1990s.

Thailand supplies 20 percent of the global prawn market.

VSU developed a technology for increased production of prawn and other commodities using Gerona’s system, consistent with the multi-commodity enterprise as a development strategy promoted by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR.)

VSU researchers Veronica L. Reoma, Nestor O. Morales, and Tamar Mejia Jr. have found that with Gerona’s multi-enterprise system farmers can maximize their earnings.

When prawn was integrated into farms, the researchers found out studied farms earned a net income of P3,474 in the first cropping, P12,890 in the second and P16,182 in the third or a total of P32,497.

This was based on the VSU-Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) study called “Integrated Giant Freshwater Prawn and Vegetable Production.”

“The production of high-value products like prawn will significantly raise farmers’ income. And diversifying sources of farm income is something that our agency supports,” said BAR director Nicomedes P. Eleazar.

VSU’s College of Fisheries has started planning for hatchery expansion since demand for prawns in Leyte alone has been brisk.

“Farmers could not accommodate demand for prawn. They proposed that they should be taught to put up their own hatcheries which will raise supply of fry,” Reoma said. “We are considering expanding the hatchery in strategic areas where it can be more available for farmers for ease of transportation.”

VSU is further seeking an intensified partnership with BAR on a proposed integrated prawn production.

It targets the local market at the outset but is setting its sights on the huge Japanese export market.

While prawn or shrimp consumption in general has been declining, Japan’s shrimp imports will be anywhere from $1 billion to $2 billion in the early years of the decade.

With Gerona’s system in Sogod, Leyte replicated, freshwater prawn production in Leyte and other Visayan provinces could boost the national output.

“The technology on freshwater prawn is not yet popularized in Leyte island due to the lack of prawn fingerlings. But the net return in prawn culture and the demand could energize the farmers to shift from tilapia alone to prawn with vegetables along their ponds as trellises and shades for their pond,” said Reoma.

The multi-enterprise commodity system of Gerona involved a 300-square-meter pond for the first cycle, two 300 sq.m. pond on the second, and one 300 sq.m. pond on the third.

For the feeds, he used prawn commercial feeds mixed with crushed golden kuhol (golden apple snails), fish waste and leftovers.

The system becomes multi-commodity with the planting of climbing vegetables like “upo” and squash. These trellises provided the shade needed by the prawns to grow.

An important recommendation of the VSU researchers was for the integration of production of freshwater prawn fry or seed as part of technology, for which farmers should be trained.

This will ensure that farmers will have easy access to disease-freed seed supply.

The project studied implementation of the prawn-based multi-enterprise commodity system through a Technology Field Day of 53 farmers.

The study was funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development.

Of the 53 farmers, around 20 farmers have already integrated prawn culture into their farms.

Farmers were advised to convert part of their tilapia pond into an ulang pond by allocating only 300 sq. m. of their farm area.