A REGION-WIDE training by Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for soft-shelled crabs production using the induce multi technology will pilot at Banay-banay, Davao Oriental next month.

“Our group conducted a techno demo in Pagbilao. We saw that this is indeed viable because there is a demand in the market. We just have problem with the raw materials or the young crablets but once we already have them, we don’t have problems with the market. Today, that these soft-shelled crabs can be bought at P500 per kilo,” Jaime Fernandez, BFAR Agricultural Center Chief-Davao, said.

The process for this includes cutting off the crablets crawling legs and pincers, leaving behind their swimming legs.

Fernandez said this is to avoid the crablets from eating each other and to control their swimming directions once inside the cage at sea. Each cage is two feet by three feet with a depth of 8 inches containing 50 to 70 crablets inside.

A P500,000 budget will be allotted for this training. For the first batch, participating fisherfolks will be given a thousand crablets each.

Beneficiaries will be taught how to properly take care, feed, fatten up, and harvest soft-shelled crabs. These crabs will be fed with tamban every other day.

Fernandez said this started in 2010, when Japanese investors came looking for soft-shelled crabs in the region and would need 50 tons per month.

These investors shared the technology and the processes which Fernandez tweaked a little. From then on, he started out with the entire trial and verification stage.

He targets that the project training will be disseminated in the entire region’s fisherfolks since the high demand for the soft-shelled crabs in the market still remains.