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| The country has an estimated potential of harvesting over 2.5 million metric tons of fish from its traditional and inshore marine water sources. Figures released by the government in 2013 indicated fish production was 367,854 metric tons valued at 1.44 billion/-. |
Tanzania is
set to adopt modern fish-farming techniques from India and Thailand.
The is aimed at doubling the sector’s contribution to the national Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).
The
country has an estimated potential of harvesting over 2.5 million
metric tons of fish from its traditional and inshore marine water
sources. Figures released by the government in 2013 indicated fish
production was 367,854 metric tons valued at 1.44 billion/-.
Currently, official
figures show fish and fishery products account for 1.4 per cent of the
country’s GDP. Experts have attributed the constrained development of
fisheries to limited infrastructure and technology.
The
sector further contributed to 6.12 million US dollars in foreign
exchange from export of fish and fishery products. Christian Brighton,
Director with Stic Lab Limited told the ‘Daily News’ at the ongoing 40th
Dar es Salaam International Trade held at the Mwalimu Nyerere Fair
Grounds in the city that Tanzania does not need to import fish and
fishery products.
“We
have all we want. The only way to reduce fish and fishery products gaps
between supply and demand is by introducing fish aquaculture,” he said
adding the company is embarking on introducing modern fish farming
techniques from India and Thailand to improve productivity.
“We’re
training small and medium sized fish farmers and we’re offering
solar-powered technology to simplify fishery activities for individuals
and medium-sized entrepreneurs,” he said. The director pointed out that
fish farming is less expensive than poultry farming.
“One
fish is capable to produce more than 1,000 fingerlings and feeding cost
is less than 100,000/- per year,” Mr Brighton who runs several
exploratory dams said in an interview yesterday.
Other
than maximizing individual earnings, fish and fishery products
represent a very valuable source of protein and essential micronutrients
for balanced nutrition and good health.
Fish contributes to the world population’s intake of animal protein.
Globally,
fish provides about 3.0 billion people with almost 20 per cent of their
intake of animal protein, and 4.3 billion people with about 15 per cent
of such protein, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). Tanzania Foods and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) reported
that per capita consumption of fish and fishery products was about 7.7
kg/capita.
Spokesman
for the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA), Mr Sitta
Peter, told the ‘Daily News’ the authority was working with the small
and medium sized enterprises by offering them modern fish farming
techniques. He said the current technology being adopted is fish farming
in salty water. “We can now farm tilapia in salty water,” he said.
The
technology, according to Stic Lab, involves installing a solarenergy to
pump water into a fish tank and recycle the same water for about three
months. It helps in cleaning the tanks and decontaminating water in the
tank. “Now”, he said, “we’re working on to develop a sensor, which will
determine intervals and size of food to be supplied in a tank — in
accordance with the number of fish available”.
Sources; Daily News
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