La Trinidad Fish Farm
Brief Background
The La Trinidad Fish Farm (LTFF) was constructed in 1971 by then Philippine Commission (PFC), under Region I, now Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Its existence has been entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the PFC with Commissioner Andres Mane and Mountain State Agricultural College (MSAC), now Benguet State University (BSU) with its President Bruno Santos. Basically, the farm has a total land area of more or less 3.0 hectares including its mountain slope, a serviceable/productive area of 1.75 hectares and the remaining 1.3 hectares are for infrastructure purposes. On the other hand, the emphasis in the development of aquaculture in the region and the need to develop competent aquaculture extensionists made the concept of creating the center as a regional training institute for fisheries. With this, the farm became the only regional facility for fresh water aquaculture in the Cordillera. In 1989, the LTFF was changed to La Trinidad Regional Fish Farm (LTRFF) after the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1987 through Executive Order No. 220 issued by President Corazon Aquino.
Location
LTRFF is located at the BSU Compound, Balili, La Trinidad, and three (3) km north of Baguio City and is 256 km north of Manila and is 4, 700 feet above sea level and having a temperate climate. It is bounded on the north by the municipality of Tublay on the south by Baguio, and on the west by Sablan and Tuba.
Production and Services
Despite the region as the only land-locked region, and the largest mountain range in the country, fish production is not hampered. Also, it became the only fish seed propagation center operating in the Highland Cordillera under the Department of Agriculture (DA). To be able to contribute in the success of fishery programs, its main function focuses on the production of carp and tilapia fingerlings of technologically superior breed for dispersal and research purposes. As of April, 2013, there are 1000 male tilapia breeders; and 3000 female tilapia breeders with a total of 4000 breeders. In the year 2012, the farm was able to produce 1.77M tilapia fingerlings and 1.19M carp fingerlings as it caters to the need of the Benguet province (fishponds, rice-fish culture projects, fish cages and communal bodies of water) and other nearby provinces.
Staffs and Facilities
Originally, with 9 staffs, the farm was managed by the first Farm Manager Mr. Gualberto Soratos. Now, the farm is managed by OIC- Farm Manager Marx Perfecto C. Garcia with seven (7) staffs namely Rafael Bulakit, Wilner Bumal-o, Allan Dela Cruz, Jean Denna, Alberto Dosdos, Martha Estima, and John Pagui-en. Meanwhile, to make quality services possible, the farm maintains facilities which include two buildings: the Training Center and Guest House; and the Staff quarters including the concrete breeding and hatching tanks. It has a concrete elevated water tank reservoir that supplies water to the tanks which is one of the rehabilitation work introduced to upgrade said farm. The pond system is composed of 16 units of Nursery Ponds with concrete dikes lining and 11 rearing ponds. The water supply comes from a natural spring during the rainy days and from a deep well where the water is pumped out during the dry season.
Species Cultured
The two main fishes it produces are tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, and common carp, Cyprinus carpio. Its accessibility to other municipalities of Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Abra made the farm as a supplementary source for fish seed.
