Women groups pioneer BFAR´s FOVOP projects in Misamis Oriental

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is piloting its One Village, One Fisheries Product system in Misamis Oriental by mobilizing the women of fisher folk in select barangays of the province.

The three women´s groups piloting FOVOP in their respective areas include the Initao OFW´s Women´s (IOWIJA) in Initao; Balingasag Women´s Federation for Development in Balingasag; and Catalino Women´s Association in Libertad.

Among their products are bottled Spanish sardines in oil or tomato sauce, bottled pickled seaweed (guso) for Initao; Seaweed Shing-a-ling snack food in Libertad and deboned and stuffed bangus (embotido) in Balingasag.

Atty. Benjamin F. S. Tabios, Jr., assistant director for administrative services said the FOVOP is a logical extension of the Department of Trade and Industry´s successful One-Town, One Product (OTOP) pioneered by Japan.

"The existing OTOP framework has to be adopted, and we need a decision and guidelines for FOVOP." An ASEAN-SEAFDEC HRD Workshop ion the promotion of "One Village, One Fisheries Product (FOVOP) in the Philippines was conducted August 24-28, 2009 in Cagayan de Oro City for this purpose.

Tabios said a total of ten (10) women´s associations are now implementing the FOVOP in three pilot regions (four in Region 1, three in Region 7 and three in Region 10).

Ms. Remely Lachinca of BFAR Region 1 said that before FOVOP, fisheries industries with potential had to be identified and guidelines for focus groups drawn up with priority given to existing organizations of fisher folk which were already working for common objectives, had product/s which could be enhanced and existing markets for their products.

According to the ASEAN Foundation which is underwriting the seminar, 12 percent of global fish production is produced by ASEAN member countries, employing 12 million workers in Asean fisheries industries and contributing US$ 12-billion to ASEAN economies annually.

The ASEAN Foundation supports the promotion of "one village, one fisheries product (FOVOP) as a means to address poverty issues in the region´s fishing communities. Considering that poverty prevails in many fishing communities, the project aims to promote the creation of alternative and additional means of livelihood in these areas.

The first regional technical consultation meeting was held in Bangkok in Nov. 2009 where the FOVOP experiences in Japan, Thailand and other ASEAN countries were shared among participants.

Among the preliminary strategies identified to advance the promotion of FOVOP in the ASEAN region were modernization of domestic fish marketing system; product development and improvement; and institutional set-up and human resource development.

In his article in "Fish for the People" published by SEAFDEC as part of the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Special 5-year Program to promote sustainable fisheries for food security in the ASEAN region, Dr. Yasuhisa Kato, a special advisor of SEAFDEC, said the OTOP campaign is not always advantageous to fisheries communities, since it tends to lead local people into following the World Health Organization (WHO)´s high level trade regulations to export, and becomes a burden for them technically and financially.

Rather than the OTOP, Kato said the FOVOP should be promoted in terms of encouraging local people to discover and develop specialties in their respective areas.

Furthermore, by facilitating FOVOP in ASEAN countries, locals can contribute to expanding the project database by sharing their experiences in human resources development and know-how on value-added product development.

Ms. Pouchamarn Wongsanga of SEAFDEC said the seminar-workshop was aimed at building awareness on how the FOVOP can impact on the improvement of fisheries livelihood; over-capacity; gender and development in the fishing community; active participation of women's group on the community based business activities; and recommendation on identified future FOVOP activities.