OJT at DA BFAR NFFTC (Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources National Freshwater Fisheries Technology Center) Munoz, Nueva Ecija

OJT at DA BFAR NFFTC (Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources National Freshwater Fisheries Technology Center) Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija

(Actual photos taken by yours truly inside the BFAR compound/hacienda ^_^ ) 

Being a biologist can be a curse and a blessing at the same time. I don't want to rant about all of my hardship and pain in taking this course (*rolls eyes) so let's focus on the brighter side of things. Being a biologist is a blessing because I get the chance to travel. We have this requirement (I'm pretty sure all college students do) to have an on-the-job-training program for whatever company we would like to apply (where we could exercise all of our laboratory skills of course)  in order to complete our subject Laboratory Apprenticeship this summer. My thesis partner and I choose DA-BFAR NFFTC because we know that it would equip us with knowledge and information about water quality management which is one of our topic in our thesis. To stop myself from being a nerd and talking about our thesis, I'll tell you how we got from Manila to Nueva Ecija. I will also enumerate the things we learned, what to bring and all the other important stuff you should know (but nobody told us) if you will go there for your OJT too. Nonetheless, this was one of the best experience ever in my life. No exaggeration. I will never forget this.

How to get from Manila to BFAR NFFTC Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija?

1.) First and foremost you have to go to Cubao.

2.) Find the terminal of Baliwag or Five star transit bus station.

3.) Aboard to the bus that have the sign "San Jose, Nueva Ecija" (Bus fare: 195php)

4.) Be nice and smile to the conductor because you will have to request him that he must inform you when you get to the CLSU or Central Luzon State University main gate already.

5.) After stretching from a 5-6 hours travel time, you will see that the front of the CLSU main gate is a gas station where there is a nearby tricycle station. Go there and say "BFAR NFFTC" and they will take you there. (Tricycle fare: 70 php)

Anyway the bus look like this:

Baliwag transit bus (photo not mine)

Five stat transit bus (photo not mine)

What to bring?

1.) Clothes good for 13 days. This includes your field work clothes (usually long sleeves), normal clothes, don't forget the pambahay clothes and underwear.

2.) Things that would protect you from the sun (cap, umbrella, sunblock or whatever).

3.) Toiletries and other hygiene related stuff.

4.) It's OK to bring laptop and gadgets. This would help you in your research.

5.) Rice cooker. I could not emphasize this more. This is one of our biggest regret, we didn't bring one.

6.) Rice and other canned goods, instant food or the other normal foods. You can cook there with the help of your magic rice cooker.

Note: You don't have to worry about water because they have water dispenser there all you have to do is pay Kuya ET.

What does the place looks like?

I could not find the right words to describe how beautiful this place is. I can describe it but I'm not sure my limited vocabulary could give it justice so in order not to lessen its perfection I will just present to you the pictures taken by yours truly :)

Different buildings, stations and sceneries you will see withing the BFAR NFFTC 

The Dormitory

Inside the dormitory

We were assigned in the annex of the dormitory. It is at the right end of the dorm and it is a two storey house with a living room, dining table, a kitchen along the corridor and six rooms over all (three on the first floor and three on the second floor).

Inside Room 1 annex dormitory

The room have three double deck. Sorry for the mess here. We were just unpacking our stuff and preparing the bed sheets.

What is our learning experience in this place?

The place is a summer paradise. That is one thing for sure. Being away from my home, family and friends then doing this for school purposes has never been this fun and rewarding at the same time. It seriously feels like I was not away for OJT but for a vacation instead. But don't get me wrong. We really learned and did a lot of things here in this wonderful place. There are lectures about the basic biology of tilapia and the different strain of Oreochromis niloticus or tilapia that they are developing here. To give you a background, they have four strains namely GIFT FF, FAST, MALAYSIAN and EXCEL. They have this project here called "GET EXCEL 2010" that's why they are determining the best breeders in order to develop the best tilapia. Well GET EXCEL literally means Genetically Enhanced Tilapia EXcellent strain that has Competitive advantage with other strains for Entrepreneurial Livelihood projects in support to aquaculture for rural development. I heard they are now on a new project called "GET EXCEL 2014". Good luck to the TANS (Technology Adaptation and Networking System) deparment for that. Other than that, the people in this department are all wonderful people. All the aquaculturist and fishermen here are the best bunch of people you'll instantly get close with. We had fun doing all the activities like pond draining, pit tagging, floy tagging, tag reading, determing the sex of the fish and many more. There is also a practicum wherein you get to exercised all of your learning in this department.

(Actual Pit Tag/microchip reading)

The other department that we were assigned to was the Fish Health and Water Quality Management Unit. In this department Dr. Lydia Morales assigned us to make a bioassay (A kind of dosage/response experiment). Maam Michelle assisted us in using all of the laboratory stuff here. They are actually my two favorite people in this department because they are the only people in this department. Other than that, they are nicest people you will ever meet. I swear that Dr. Lydia gives the best advice in life. She is a very lovable person. She's so successful but oh-so-down-to-earth kind of person. I could not describe her more to explain how wonderful her personality is. So going back to the nerdy stuff, We came up with the title "The Toxicity Effect of the Methanolic Extract of Ixora coccinea leaves on Oreochromis niloticus". We conducted the experiment and did a 24-hour observation (Right 24 hours observation we didn't sleep a wink).

(Actual Experimental Set-up)

(O. niloticus sample)

All in all, t'was a wonderful experience. I swear I will never forget every nice person I met in this wonderful place. The BFAR staff, all of our maam and sir here, the TANS department and Water quality management unit, the co-trainees who became our "pate" (term for kapatid here) and our big boss/father Sir Melchor Tayamen. Thank you for accepting us and treating us like one of your family. I really felt we are truly a one big happy family here. This is not goodbye for us cause surely we are coming back!