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Building ecologically-compatible marine and
coastal enterprises
In the Samar Resource Management
Program (SRMP), PBSP engages in a massive poverty alleviation work
in an area identified as among the most economically-depressed in
the country.
Initially covering 7 communities, SRMP now involves 14 communities
in the 3 municipalities along Maqueda Bay. Some 2,500 poor fishing
and farming households work hand-in-hand with the Foundation in community-building,
mangrove and upland reforestation, technology replication and enterprise
development.
Developing Appropriate Technologies
The PBSP-Samar Field Office develops breeder stocks of high value
marine species in floating cages in its coastal center in Maqueda
Bay. In the first quarter of 2004, the PBSP Multi-Species Hatchery
was inaugurated to breed highly-marketable species such as grouper,
milkfish and snapper.
The Field Office’s Mahayag Upland Technology Farm also sustains
a five-hectare gene bank of indigenous tree species. Several farming
systems are being showcased for crops and commodities suited for Samar’s
ecology.
Gaining Recognition
Recently, the Samar Program-assisted Old and New Mahayag Cooperatives
won awards as first and second Best Cooperatives, respectively, of
the European Union-funded WEST SAMAR Program.
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Map
of Samar
Driefer on Western
Samar
More
than half (61%) of nearly 300,000 inhabitants live in grinding
poverty.
Maqueda Bay, source of livelihood for 14 out of 25 municipalities
in Samar, is severely depleted by indiscriminate and illegal
fishing methods.
People generally lack access to capital and equipment needed
to harness the island’s resources in a sustainable manner. |
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