LEGAZPI CITY (PIA) -- Cooks from a fisherfolk group were gathered in the municipality of Tigaon in Camarines Sur province to promote tilapia dishes at the town’s first “Tilapia Harvest Festival” held on April 5, 2024.
With tilapia as the main ingredient, the cooks from the Tigaon Inland Fisherfolk Association (TIFA) produced pininyahang tilapia, relyenong tilapia, and tilapia ice cream without the smell and a fishy aftertaste.
According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional office, the tilapia cooking competition served as a venue for the TIFA members to showcase the adaptability of tilapia, an African freshwater species, as a culinary ingredient.
In the maiden edition of Tilapia Harvest Festival, the Tigaon Inland Fisherfolk Association sell more than 4,000 kilos of fresh tilapia at P120 a kilo to festival-goers. (Contributed photo/ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Bicol)
On the other hand, BFAR Post-Harvest Section personnel exhibited products made of tilapia including marinated tilanggit and tilapia longganisa.
In addition to the cooking competition, 30 TIFA members attending the tilapia gastronomy also got to undergo training on tilapia gourmet cooking conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry.
One of the most common fares on Filipino families’ dinner tables and a popular source of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, tilapia is considered one of the country’s most commercially important fish species.
Officials from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry act as food tasters during the Tilapia Harvest Festival's cookery event in Tigaon, Camarines Sur, April 5, 2024. (Contributed photo/ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Bicol)
Tilapia farming in this town of 61,000, which hosts the Mt. Isarog Jungle Park, has grown by leaps and bounds.
In November 2023, TIFA received a livelihood package of P1,418,144 from the BFAR, including 80,000 tilapia fingerlings, as part of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program.
In the maiden edition of the festival, TIFA made a partial harvest of 4,163 kilos of fresh tilapia and sold them at P120 a kilo to festival-goers.
Tigaon Inland Fisherfolk Association cook James Culaway produces this tilapia ice cream without the smell and a fishy aftertaste during the Tilapia Harvest Festival's cookery event in Tigaon, Camarines Sur, April 5, 2024. (Contributed photo/ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Bicol)
According to BFAR Regional Director Ariel Pioquinto, tilapia production should be improved as increased attention to the commodity will drive up demand.
Lawyer Nilo Consuelo, the alternate focal of the SAAD project for the region, expressed his pride in the thriving tilapia industry of Tigaon that has managed to keep the price of fish affordable for the general public.
“The intensive campaign waged by the stakeholders will further increase the tilapia production in Tigaon in the coming years,” he said. (PIA5)
