With ‘danggit,’ a town gets acquainted with wealth

By Juan Escandor Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon

PRIETO DIAZ, Sorsogon – Commonly known as “rabbit fish” because its mouth resembles that of a rabbit, danggit has provided a new livelihood opportunity to a people’s organization here whose dried fish production and sales have expanded threefold since they started two years ago.

Ordinarily steep in price, danggit produced by the Seamancor Ecodevelopers Inc. (Seamancor) sells for P100 per 200-gram pack, or around 100 pieces of the bite-size dried fish fillet.

Organized in 1994 by the Sorsogon provincial office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as part of a coastal environment program, Seamancor presently has 105 members from the coastal villages of Prieto Diaz.

Joselito Domdom, Seamancor chairman, said he and the members have implemented a number of livelihood projects before, but the processing of dried danggit proved to be the most promising.

Domdom said the DENR helped them with different livelihood activities, including goat raising, nipa plantation, crab culture, seaweed farming and swine dispersal – all of which did not succeed.

These, however, did not deter them from venturing into other projects, which they continued up to the present, such as trading of National Food Authority’s subsidized rice, catering services, mangrove propagules production and danggit processing.

“Danggit processing became our most viable venture, with regular orders coming from different places,” Domdom said.

Abundant

He said the processing job came about after the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) conducted a livelihood training for a multisectoral group two years ago.

“We were not part of the training, but our organization provided the catering. I got interested in the subject so I joined the training on its second day wherein I learned the techniques of processing,” Domdom said.

He tried the small-scale processing of some 40 kilos of danggit in 2007 and was able to achieve a satisfactory return of investment.

“With the abundance of danggit in our seas here, I am sure the opportunity to expand ... would always be there,” he said.

Danggit (Siganus Sp.), which is called toros here, is endemic and abounds in seagrass beds around the coast that stretches from Prieto Diaz to the towns of Gubat, Barcelona, Bulusan and Sta. Magdalena.

Melchor B. Deramas, chief of extension and training of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said danggit could also be found near the vicinity of Bacon and Sorsogon City in Sorsogon province, and in the towns of Bacacay and Rapu-Rapu and San Miguel Island in Albay.

Deramas said the wide tidal flats of Prieto Diaz where seagrass beds grew in abundance were ideal habitats of danggit.

18 workers

He said danggit, which has a compact meat with fine scales and leathery skin, feeds on algae, seaweeds and eel grass.

The danggit processing venture of Seamancor currently employs 18 workers who work for two days, processing the raw materials until the next batch of order arrives.

Workers receive a daily pay of P125 with free meals. They come from the ranks of farmers and fishermen who make up 90 percent of the town’s labor force.

They produce a kilo of dried danggit from five kilos of fresh supplies provided by fisherfolk in the local market.

Domdom observed that the supply of danggit peaks a week before the new moon.

Early on, Seamancor coordinated with the DTI to improve systems and techniques for production and marketing processes.

The next thing he knew, Domdom said they were being subsidized by the DTI and participating in a trade fair held at the Megamall under the agency’s “One Town, One Product” program.

“Our product sold briskly, which encouraged us to improve more on our quality and packaging with help from the DTI,” he said.

While training in Cebu, he discovered that the processed danggit being sold there was boneless, so he tried to adopt the same when he returned to his hometown.

Hot item

In 2008, Seamancor started producing boneless danggit, which became a hot item at a trade fair in Manila. Over 100 kilos were sold on the second day of the five-day event.

The same happened in 2009, and the producers were able to sell all their dried danggit a day before the trade fair ended.

Domdom figured that demand for their product would continue to increase as several interested distributors from as far as Manila called to place orders even after Christmas.

“It’s a nice ‘pasalubong’ that will cost you a hundred [pesos]. Easy on the pocket too,” he said.

According to Domdom, Seamancor is now producing up to 150 kilos of dried danggit a month to satisfy demand of government and private employees and small product distributors in Sorsogon and Legazpi City.

He said they practiced strict quality control, which includes selecting the most fresh raw materials, and protecting the product from maggot infestation during the drying process.

Domdom said he was able to address the problem in drying processed danggit during rainy days.

Right now, the group is asking help from the Department of Agriculture in obtaining a mechanical dryer.