The mussel industry is an important component of the aquaculture sector in the Philippines. Mussels are a cheap source of protein and mussel farming provides additional income and livelihood to fisherfolk in many coastal areas. Mussel farming requires little capital investment.

Despite these advantages of mussel farming, there has not been a significant increase in the production of mussels in the past years. It was in fact decreasing annually by 14.42 percent from 2012 to 2014. Mussel production in 2012 averaged 25, 700 metric tons (MT), went down to 22, 900 MT in 2013 and further reduced to 18, 800 MT in 2014. This can be traced to its low value, little market demand, poor sanitary quality, occurrence of red tides, and unpredictable supply.

The PCAARRD Industry Strategic S&T Program for mussel aims to help develop the mussel industry by enabling farmers to produce quality and safe cultured and processed mussel products. It will develop technologies to provide farmers with sustainable and reliable source of quality mussel seeds and enable expansion of production areas for mussel farming.