Ex-MILF combatants turn to fish farming

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 29, 2021): Ex-MILF combatants turn to fish farming (By Edwin Fernandez)  July 29, 2021, 4:58 pm

LIVELIHOOD. Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform of the Bangsamoro government release tilapia fingerlings to a fishpond in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao on Wednesday (July 28, 2021). The livelihood project will benefit former Moro Islamic Liberation Front combatants who have abandoned the armed struggle. (Photo courtesy of MAFAR)

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has boosted the livelihood productivity of a group of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao on Wednesday.

The former members of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) are now fish farmers after they laid down their guns in exchange for income-generating projects as part of the peace process.

Pendatun Patarasa, Assistant to the Minister for Special Concerns of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR), said Thursday that the former MILF combatants received some 36,000 tilapia fingerlings.

The project is part of the support to Agriculture and Agribusiness Enterprise in Mindanao for Sustainable Development that aims to increase productivity of agriculture and fisheries-based livelihood, funded by the Korean government through the Korea International Cooperation Agency.

About 36,000 tilapia fingerlings were each given to the Compra Farmers and Fisherfolks Association of Barangay Bulod, Datu Montawal; Liguasan Inhabitants Consumers Cooperative; Barangay Bagoenged in Pagalungan, Maguindanao; and Tireken Aquaculture Producers Cooperative of Barangay Tambo in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao.

Patarasa said the fingerlings were donated by the United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization, through the initiative of MAFAR that targets to support indigent barangays by giving them the opportunity to earn additional income.

“I encouraged our fish farmers to manage well the assistance given to them from the government to increase their production of tilapia and their income, which could also contribute to the growth of the aquaculture industry in the province,” Patarasa said in a statement.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1148704