THIS week, my write-up stems from the unfortunate statistics that Zambia, which owns a great share of water bodies in Southern Africa, imports more than 40,000 tonnes of fish from China per annum.
The concern regarding this issue was brought to the fore by President Edgar Lungu who has since described the importation of the commodity as a scandal.
Yes it is a scandal for the country to be importing fish when it has all the resources that should enable any entity produce multiple tonnes of the commodity.
But what has led to this circumstance? Is it the country’s inability to produce fish locally or are there some incentives attached to procuring the commodity from abroad than locally.
To reverse this shameful dependence on imported fish, President Lungu further disclosed that the country has sourced US$50 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to scale up fish production by locals. The funds would among others be invested in aqua parks, owned by local people to spur local production of the commodity.
It is important to note that despite Zambia’s total fish production rising to 98,000 tonnes as at December 2014, there was still a deficit of about 58,000 tonnes as the country consumes 156,000 tonnes of fish per annum.
China caters for about 45,000 tonnes of fish leaving another deficit of about another 13,000 which is imported.
Agriculture and Livestock Deputy Minister Greyford Monde went on to say Government will this year recruit 114 fisheries extension officers countrywide to implement projects to boost fish production by local farmers.
According to Mr Monde, the officers will be engaged in offering imparting vital skills to fish farmers to enable them apply best practices in fish farming.
The move to strengthen the fisheries department by recruiting more officers to boost extension services towards fish farmers is welcome especially in light of the prevailing scenario.
There is much for the country to do to stem up production in the aquatic industry and this is where all stakeholders must brain storm to find solutions.
My own suggestions would include one for the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) to identify as many fish farmers as possible who can be empowered with funding to invest in aqua farming.
One way to do this is identification of fish productive area without restricting loans to only those who meet specific requirements in fish farming.
Though some fish farmers may not have the technical know in advanced methods of fish farming, they can execute their business if tutored.
It is such people who should be trained and given loans in order to practise fish farming on a large scale.
Mr Monde also talked of Government implementing programmes for fish farmers to boost production through effective use of the water bodies that Zambia is bestowed with.
These include training of people to use correct fishing methods and adherence to the annual fish ban so that the aquatic life is given ample time to breed.
The implementation of this calls for senstisation involving stakeholders like traditional leaders in teaching people correct fishing methods.
Making the local people understand the importance of the fishing ban and correct fishing methods will go a long way in enhancing the country’s capacity to produce more fish locally.
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