HUNGDUAN, Ifugao – In line with the national government’s poverty alleviation program, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in coordination with the Department of Agriculture and the provincial government recently conducted the two-day Regional “Yuyu” Congress here.   The congress featured the support of the provincial government and BFAR to the development of yuyu or the Japanese fish as the one town one product of this municipality.  

BFAR national director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr.  cited the growing fish industry in the province  and posed the challenge to the Ifugaos to expand hatcheries to include carp.  

Sarmiento pro-mised to render assistance in making Cordillera fish sufficient. Allocation for aquaculture has also been included in next year’s national budget with appropriations for laboratory equipment and technical training, he said.  

To ensure food sufficiency, he encouraged fisherfolks or farmers to submit proposals in line with the objectives of rice and fish adequacy.

“Fish insufficiency is unacceptable in a country within the coral triangle which is comparable to the Amazon Forest biodiversity,” Sarmiento said.  
Meanwhile, Gov. Teddy Baguilat Jr. said that Ifugao is producing 55 percent of the fish production of the Cordillera. Aside from yuyu, tilapia and pangasius are also being produced in the province.   

Farmers here revealed that yuyu played a great role in the nutrition of the upland areas in the region in the past. It has sustained their fish protein requirement until the advent of the cash economy when the value of yuyu was no longer appreciated.  

Yuyu production here as well as in other upland areas of the region revolves around the rice production system. Rice is planted in January or February and harvested in June and July. After rice is planted, catching yuyu is not allowed until harvest is completed in July.