FEATURE

Tourists who pass by the town of Zarraga are often told that the mudfish (pantat) sold along the highway tastes better than any other mudfish in the country.

"People who taste our mudfish say there's no other taste so delicious and desirable. They always go back for more," said Mila Silvela, fishery technician of the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO).

Municipal Agriculturist Mervyn Porras said Zarraga has been popular for its native pantat because of its wonderful taste and flavor.

"It is preferred than other species, even if those other species introduced from Bangkok, Thailand, are bigger, and take a shorter period to mature," Porras said.

He said the fishpond operators in Zarraga, about 37 of them, prefer to produce the native pantat due to higher demand in the market.

Porras said the town's history would always go back to the features of the well-known Sigangaw Creek where pantat (mudfish), turagsoy and gurami abound.

Besides its own pantat production, Zarraga is convergence point of all mudfish coming from the different towns in central and northern Iloilo, but nothing compares with the flavor of the native pantat, said Silvela.

With the increasing demands for pantat in the last few years, Porras said the local government organized and extended technical and financial assistance to mudfish operators as beneficiaries.

These operators were trained under the supervision of the MAO to make the ponds suitable for the raising of the mudfish.

Silvela, who directly supervises the operators, said pond preparation, which is usually a backyard area, is crucial.

"It begins with proper site selection, where the soil must be of clay, loamy texture, and the location not near the households to avoid bacteria contamination," Silvela said.

The soil is sundried to the point of cracking, then lime is applied, followed by tea seed powder to kill predators that can hamper the growth of fingerlings.

Silvela said the water source for the pond should be far from open canals, clean and not contaminated.

She said that there are also specified numbers of fingerlings per square meter of the pond.

For a square meter of a fishpond, five pieces fingerlings are placed, which means that if a beneficiary operates 100 square meters, 500 fingerlings are put into it.

Nelida Octaviano, whose family operates an 800-square meter mudfish pond, said her 4,000 fingerlings are carnivorous, fed with chicken meat coupled with formulated feeds, fry booster and fry mash.

"For every 1,000 fingerlings, I spend about P5,000-P6,000 for a given period, with an estimated 70 percent survival," Octaviano said.

Silvela said the feeding time of the fingerlings must be strictly observed.

"Fingerlings must be fed four to five times a day," Silvela said.

She added even if there is only 50 percent survival rate for fingerlings, the pond operator can still make profit with a gate price of P100 per kilo, with two to three mudfish per kilo depending on the size.

Mudfish production is year-round and the pond operator is never a loser, she said.

In recognition of mudfish's contribution to the local economy, Zarraga hold the "Pantatan Festival" every December.

"This is the time when all of us pond operators put together all our produce, display them in kiosks around the plaza at night, where visitors come purposely just to eat pantat prepared in a variety of ways," Octaviano said.

Octaviano said in the past year, they were able to produce and dispose about five tons during the Pantat Festival.

"We were able to sell 100 kilos per kiosk per night, during the weeklong festival," Octaviano said.

Silvela said this December, the LGU may target to sell six tons of pantat.

Silvela was optimistic that they can make it to eight tons for the fourth quarter, with less disruption in the weather, as there are few storms hitting the province.

Meanwhile, pantat is not ordinary for the people of Zarraga, as this has put them in the limelight, among food festivals in Iloilo.

The "Pantat Festival" was a contender and big winner in the Aliwan Festival of festivals this year, as a tourism attraction.

"You go to the popular eating hubs here in Iloilo and you will notice our pantat are among the best choices," Silvela said.*PIA