SWIP-Based Aquaculture Livelihood Project Launched

Liwan Norte, Enrile, Cagayan -The local government units (LGU) of Cagayan province and Enrile town, in partnership with the Irrigators Association, the Bureau of Soils and Water Management under the Department of Agriculture, established a 20-hectare small water impounding project (SWIP) at Liwan Norte, a once sleepy village in the rural fourth class municipality of Enrile, Cagayan. It has dramatically transformed the lives of subsistence farmers and CARP farmer-beneficiaries.

     The SWIP supplies irrigation water to some 104 hectares of farmlands and also serves as a fishpond which has increased fish production in the area. Presently, the fishpond has a stocking density of 5,000 fingerlings per hectare with a survival rate of 60%. There are also fish cages in the pond (5 x 10 x 2.5 meters) with a stocking density of 25 pieces of fingerlings per cubic meter with a 90% survival rate. According to the members of the Liwan Norte Irrigators Association, they have harvested more than 700 kilos of fish mainly tilapia from the 50-hectare Liwan Norte Small Water Impoundment Project since the start of fishing operation.

     On April 15, 2011, the Small Water Impounding Project (SWIP)-based Aquaculture Livelihood Project was launched here through the Department of Agriculture, represented by Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup, who said that the government will continue to provide financial and technical support to the agricultural producers, but it is the producers who shall have the responsibility to maintain the facilities and sustain production.

     Also present during the launching of the SWIP-Based Aquaculture Livelihood Project were Cagayan Gov. Alvaro T. Antonio and Congressman Randolph S. Ting of Cagayan’s 3rd District. They also encouraged the Enrile-LGU to develop the site into an eco-tourism park where boating, mountain biking, hiking, fishing and other tourism activities can be undertaken by quests and tourists especially during the summer. They gave their full support to the project including the development of farm-to-market roads, as the area is around fifteen kilometers from the national highway over winding and hilly gravel roads. /cds