DAVAO CITY: Twenty-two fish centers equipped with ice-maker cold storage and processing facilities located in some coastal provinces of Mindanao have been identified for funding under the European Union-funded Mindanao Peace and Development Program (Minpad). Mindanao Development Authority Chairman Emmanuel Piñol said the fish centers, estimated to cost about P200 million, would be interconnected through a digital platform that will monitor daily catch and establish market linkage. He added that the facilities were expected to boost fishery and aquaculture productivity in Mindanao while upgrading the fisheries sector to make it compliant with international standards against unreported and unregulated fishing. The Mindanao Fisheries and Aquaculture Development was identified as one of the critical programs that could address poverty in Mindanao, increase productivity and trigger the region’s economic recovery post-coronavirus, Piñol said. The funding for the Minpad projects will come from the P2.1-billion EU Grant Fund that had been signed earlier between the EU Delegation to the Philippines and the Philippine government through the Department of Finance.
