The Ginamos of Anilao
Ginamos at 200 grams.Ginamos (shrimp or fish paste) is one of the popular flavor extenders in the country. It can be eaten with green mango, a seasoning for Pinakbet and Adobong Sitaw and many others. It can be eaten with rice as well. It’s a good source of Omega 3 oils DHA and EPA.
Ginamos is derived from fermenting fish or shrimp in high concentrations of salt for several months, sun-dried and wrapped in dried banana leaf.
In Anilao, the ginamos-making industry goes way back. One hour land drive away from Iloilo City, Anilao is a coastal municipality under the leadership of Mayor Ma. Theresa Debuque. There are several fishermen’s association there and the men’s wives get the small shrimps (krill) collected by their husbands, pound them and sold them in the market. But with the implementation of the One Town One Product (OTOP) program of the national government, the local government unit (LGU) decided to give more value to the products by cooking and improving their quality. They added ingredients, packaged and labeled them well. The products are processed by 80 womenfolks in the municipality’s seven coastal villages. These women underwent one year training in product development and research. Their products are shrimp paste (ginamos), dried shrimps (kalkag), and smoked shrimps (tapukal). Ginamos is sold at P70 for 200 grams, P50 for 150 grams and P20 for 50 grams. They are securely packaged in air-tight containers; the 50-gram product in foil. Kalkag is sold at P20 for 100 grams.
Kalkag at P20 only.A processing center will soon rise in the Poblacion. Funds are still being raised in order to buy the needed equipment for mass production of ginamos and kalkag and their by-products. Soon, they will go into shrimp powder making out of kalkag. This will be available in granule, cube or and concentrate forms.
Now, the women of Anilao have a business that will sustain them the whole year. The season for krill is only on July to November. But since they were able to collect the surplus, there is still an ample supply of these products even during the lean season.
The product is being tested in the market with Anilao joining several trade fairs and festivals in order to introduce its shrimp products to other Ilonggos.
These pieces of information were provided by Ma. Auxilladora Perucho, municipal OTOP coordinator of Anilao. Those interested to acquire Anilao’s ginamos, kalkag or tapukal, can contact her office at (033) 3620492 and (033) 3620401.
