Government’s plan to promote aquaculture

Mwanza. Aquaculture can play a key role in bridging meeding demand for fish, which currently far outstrips supply, according to the government.

Fish production ranges from 325,000 to 380,000 tonnes annually, with around 97 percent of fish sourced from small-scale fisheries.

Speaking here at the weekend, Livestock and Fisheries deputy minister Abdallah Ulega said, “It’s true that, despite its huge potential, Lake Victoria is largely untapped, but President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration os working on this.”

According to him, the current national per capita fish consumption stands at 7.6 kilogrammes per person per year, fart below the internationally recommended consumption of 20.3kg per person per year.

Read on: Saudis in Tanzania to explore investment opportunities

“Yields derived from traditional fishing have been declining, yet the demand is increasing, so the government is now encouraging commercial fish cage farming by identifying at least 30 potential areas for ton Lake Victoria in Mwanza and Bukoba to be precise,” Mr Ulega said.

According to him, if one wants to venture into aquaculture, the government has eased some requirements such as project approval by Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (Tafiri) and National Environment Management Council (NEMC).

“Some of these requirements served as bottlenecks to the development of the industry, many local investors failed, on top of that, the president has added another push by providing more Sh100 billion of which 60 percent is injected to fish production as by 2025 we need to produce 600,000 metric tons,” Mr Ulega said.

Also read on:  Saving aquaculture with fish feed produce

“Out of the Sh60 billion is set aside for fishing development and production, Sh20 billion is for aquaculture development and in fact, 90 percent of the money is for Lake Victoria beneficiaries.”