Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill consultations begin

GOVERNMENT has begun consultations for the new Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill, which is expected to provide regulations for the sector and promote its growth while contributing more towards economic development.

This comes as the country has mainstreamed fisheries and aquaculture production to diversify its economy and boost national food security.

Zimbabwe Fish Producers Association vice chairperson, Mr Sokonia Kaitano, said the new bill will assist in regulating the sector and increase the number of fish producers to create employment and reduce the import bill.

“This bill is very important to us as fish producers because when we have our own legislation, this will help to support the sector like other sectors,” said Mr Kaitano during a meeting in Bulawayo yesterday.

Zimbabwe is losing about US$10,2 million importing fish yet the country boasts many dams.
Should the money being used to import fish be channelled towards the growth of the sector, it will help boost production. The Government’s target is 60 000 tonnes of fish per year.

Mr Kaitano said the value chain for fish production is big with feed producers also going to create jobs for the locals.
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“If Zimbabwe manages to produce 60 000 tonnes that our country needs, it can create about US$180 million. Not only that, what about feed? They will require over 200 000 tonnes of feed, which also brings money,” he said.

“For us to manage to produce 60 000 tonnes of fish, we need about 4 200 directly employed people. What about indirect employees? And the economic contributions to the country are immense.”

Fish farmers who attended the stakeholder meeting spoke of the need to bridge feed shortages and improve prices and quality of fingerlings.

In an interview on the sidelines of the meeting, Fish and Aquaculture Resources Production Department director, Mr Milton Makumbe, said the consultations were meant to gain stakeholder insight and address some of the issues raised by players in the sector.

“We are also working on establishing fingerlings hubs across the country to improve farmers’ access to fingerlings,” said Mr Makumbe.

He said there are new players interested in investing in feed production in Zimbabwe.
Efforts are also underway to conduct capacity building programmes for fish farmers to enable them to produce their own feed using products at their disposal.

Government has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) under the FISH4ACP programme to ensure the success of this initiative.

The programme is meant to upgrade the tilapia value chain with a focus on small-scale fish farmers and value chain actors.
Similar consultations have been done in Nyanga and the team will soon move to Kariba.-chronicle