Fish Farming Seen as Economic Boost
On addressing obstacles to achieve these plans, Usi said bureaucracy should not hinder development.
CHIKWAWA, Malawi-Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Micheal Usi has said fish farming has the potential of contributing to the country’s economy and becoming a significant forex earner for Malawi, writes Comfort Bulangete.
"For Malawi to develop, we need to export more, and fish is one of the products we can be exporting," Usi said Wednesday during a familiarization tour at Kasinthula Aquaculture Centre in Chikwawa district.
Usi said the fish farming industry is already making strides.
"We have been importing fish feed, but we are now producing feed in Malawi, meaning fish production will also grow and today we are here discussing plans to establish an aquaculture park at Kasinthula to grow our economy," he said.
On addressing obstacles to achieve these plans, Usi said bureaucracy should not hinder development.
"There will be investors coming in, so we do not expect an officer to sit on a document and delay progress just because a document is not signed, within two years, the country should improve productivity in terms of fish," he added.
"We are also learning from other countries that are doing well in this industry and we are assessing ourselves to see how the country can be more attractive to investors. The country has resources in terms of land and water, but we need the investors' financial muscle,” said the minister.
Usi revealed plans are under way to establish eight Aquaculture mega farms in the country.
Deputy Director of Fisheries Brino Chirwa said Kasinthula has about 300 hectares of land and if fully utilized through a fish mega farm over 3,000 tonnes of fish can be produced from Kasinthula Aquaculture Centre alone.
Chirwa described Kasinthula Aquaculture Park as an "enormous game-changer project."