Fishing and Backyard Livestock Raising
Next to farming, fishing is the most common source of income for the local population. According to the municipal agriculturist, there are no fishpen owners in Baras. Instead, the fishermen rely on daily fishing for their livelihood. The Bureau of Fishery and Aquatic Resources states that the municipality has 587 hectares of fishing ground in Laguna de Bay and 3 hectares of fishing ground in the river, brooks, creeks, and brooks of the municipality. There are three coastal barangays: Santiago, Mabini and Evangelista.
Species caught include tilapia, bangus, mudfish, catfish, ayungin, biya and kanduli. Daily catch ranges from three to five kilos. Table 5 indicates the total catch for a one-year period, which is surprisingly meager considering that a quarter of the population considers it as their principal source of livelihood. The fish products are sold locally, to neighboring towns and to Metro Manila by three known traders in the municipality. The Municipal Agricultural office lists 144 fishermen in the town, but the number would be higher if those who fish but at the same time have other sources of income, e.g. farming, are included..
There have been recent efforts by livestock farm owners to raise tilapia and hito in inland fishponds. But this proved to be unprofitable because access to feeds (entrails from poultry and piggery farms) was tedious and costly. At 40.00 per kilo gate price, net earnings would only be 3.00 - 5.00 per kilo. Thus, the ventures did not go beyond the experimental stage and have been presently abandoned.
Backyard Livestock Raising
Swine is the most prevalent backyard farm animal in Baras. The most suitable place for swine raising is Barangay Pinugay and this is reflected in Table 7. To a much lesser extent, cattle is also raised. This, too, is concentrated in Pinugay. Estimated annual production value for swine production is 11,780,320.00. On the other hand, to compute for the value of beef production, the average meat recovery of 19.2 MT (Table 8 ) is multiplied by the current public market price of 130 per kilo for a total of 2,496,000.00.
Poultry is also raised in backyards but is not sold outside the household. The Municipal Agricultural Office does not have data with regard to its number.
There are no research institutions in Baras. However, there is one (1) animal breeding station which produce piglets for swine dispersal and source of semen for artificial insemination. The station also serves the surrounding towns.
Not only in the case of livestock raising, but the whole agricultural sector of Baras suffers from insufficient technology transfer. This is because once the personnel of the Department of Agriculture has been devolved to the local government, they have lost funding for seminars on latest agricultural technologies.
Source: Baras Comprehensive Land Use Plan
