The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries(MAAIF) together with Business Summit Africa has embarked on a survey aimed at establishing data in regards to aquaculture.
The survey dubbed Central Region Aquaculture Baseline Survey will establish the number of farmers engaging in aquaculture as well as the available production capacity across 15 districts.
The findings are to be used as a yard stick for planning and improving the sector by the government and international partners such as Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) among others.
The available projections shared by the ministry, Uganda only produces about 120,000 metric tons of fish produce annually. The ministry has a target to produce a million metric tons every year in the near future.
The state minister for Agriculture, Major (Rtd) Fred Bwino Kyakulaga said the survey findings will act as a benchmark for implementation of a strategic plan to enhance the fish production capacity. “Once this activity of a survey is accomplished, it will be a stepping stone for planning, for purposes of investment among others and the data generated will be utilized not only by the government but also by the private sector and the entire world because it will be availed online.” he said.
Simon Ilukol who is the Programs manager at Business Summit Africa said the expected outcomes of the data collection will establish where these infrastructures are in terms of getting their GPS locations, how access to market and finally to update the database system.
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