Africa-Press – Angola. Production in the aquaculture sector amounted to 1,834 tons of fish from January to November of this year, 27.6 percent less than the production of 2,536 tons observed last year, according to data released this Thursday in Luanda, by the Aquaculture Department of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources António Sanda Onde.
When speaking about the current context of aquaculture production, at the Council for Integrated Management of Aquatic Biological Resources, António Sanda Onde noted that, in 2020, production was 2,104 tons, an indication of the inflection of the growth trend and that the supply generated is still reduced.
Another important aspect of the low production is that the reported data do not match the actual production value as a whole, because many aquaculturists do not present the performance numbers. As an example, he indicated, more than a thousand aquaculturists carry out the activity and only 161 provide data.
“The real data point to more than two thousand tons, because during the Council more information came to us, coming from the Massango Center that registered 15 tons and a private company that produced 25 tons”, he stressed.
To fill the supply deficit, António Sanda Onde argues that the Government invest more in the sector, being fundamental, in this domain, the recovery of the sector’s staff that the Ministry has trained in recent years and the Ramiros Aquaculture Centre, which is completely paralyzed for lack of energy.
“There are few qualified technicians and the sector has trained, since 2014, more than 600 staff that are not used”, he stressed, highlighting the need for the tutelage to invest in the training of more specialists, because many who perform functions have no training, much less mastery. what they do, becoming amateurs.
António Sanda Where he pointed out the high price of feed, around 25,000 kwanzas and the lack of funding for producers among the main difficulties for aquaculture operators, considering that without funding, the sector’s business community cannot increase production. “Aquaculture farmers always present us with these concerns: they say they go to the bank to ask for credit and they are unlikely to succeed”, he stressed.
When delivering the opening speech of the Council for Integrated Management of Aquatic Biological Resources, the Secretary of State for Fisheries, António da Silva, guaranteed that the Government is drawing up strategic plans to resolve the issues facing aquaculture production and the constraints experienced by producers.
António da Silva considered that this was the time to analyze the issues of a specialized and extended forum, linked to the Planning and Management Plan for Fishing Resources.
Another important aspect, he highlighted, is the adoption of technical measures that give relevance to the conservation of species at all levels.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
