FeedWorld gets into aqua feeds

FeedWorld, owned 40 percent by TGA Farms – a family-owned company headed by young entrepreneur Rene G. Tayag, opened last week a P44-million semi-automated feeds extruder plant in Porac, Pampanga, which will market the bulk of its output to tilapia subcontractors of TGA Farms.

The 44-million Global Aqua feeds plant is funded by a loan from the Agricultural Guarantee Loan Fund of the Development Bank of the Philippines and releases from the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) of P6.4 million.

The plant will produce dried floating feeds needed by the tilapia subcontractors of TGA Farms to make the fish grow to the required 750 to 800 gram per piece for the fillet and fresh frozen fish export to the United States.

Inaugurated by Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr., the plant can produce superior quality extruder floating feeds that suit tilapia starting at 35 gram weights. The feeds are guaranteed to contain 31 percent protein; 6 percent fat; 7 percent fiber; 14 percent ash and 12 percent moisture.

Since the plant will be supplying all the tilapia subcontractors of TGA Farms, the grow out operators can now focus on maintaining a lower stocking density to ensure bigger sizes of fish as well as water management for healthier fish stock, Tayag told The STAR.

FeedWorld, started in 1996 with a capital of P450,000 on an unused lot of 450 square meters, has grown into a feed producer for livestock and poultry, as well as for aquaculture, initially targeting tilapia and bangus growers. Its new site in Porac is now 5,000 square meters.

Feasibility studies for the aqua feeds plant began in 1999. the plant has a capability to produce 400,000 metric tons a year, Tayag said.

Tayag said his company is now studying how to reduce the cost of producing tilapia to P25 a kilo, by experimenting on different growth modules in its 120-hectare ponds in Arayat.

"We can make this a reality because we are able to have direct control over a major cost factor, which is the cost of feeds that would be produced by FeedWorld. Unlike fishpond operators, who just depend on suppliers for their feeds and are therefore subject to market fluctuations," Tayag said.

Lorenzo cited Tayag for his trailblazing efforts at trying to penetrate the US market for its tilapia fillet and fresh frozen whole tilapia.

Tayag’s group is entering the US market by sending a 20-footer van in December, which Lorenzo said is a major step in crating more markets and a bigger name for the Philippines in the processed fish market.

TGA Foods Corp., a plant that will process tilapia into fillets for the US and other export markets, is now in the completion stage and is set to operate within the next few weeks.

Lorenzo also directed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to lease to TGA Foods one of its under utilized blast freezers. And for this TGA Foods entered a lease agreement with BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr.

Too, the Quedancor, credit arm of the DA, is providing the group production loans of tilapia farmers wit TGA acting as the fund collector. Once the farmer harvests and sells his tilapia to TGA, the company then deducts the total loan value and remits the same to Quedancor. The farmer then gets his net income (minus the cost of feeds provided by FeedWorld to him).

Lorenzo also directed the agricultural attaches abroad to promote tilapia, alongside the Philippine super mangoes, in all their social functions.