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Elton Manguwo

THE push to boost citizens’ socio-economic situation alongside food and nutrition security continues to gain traction with the Government set to facilitate the introduction of cage culture to commercialise fish farming and initiate intensive food production.

Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources deputy director Mr Milton Makumbe yesterday revealed that his department would identify and provide suitable water bodies to prospective farmers.

“We will provide technical support and advisory services to farmers to ensure project’s success and continuity,” said Mr Makumbe.

He said the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, under which his department falls, was targeting to grow the number of commercial fish farmers through the cage culture programme, which uses fish cages in dams through granted permits to make use of the country’s various water bodies.

Mr Makumbe added: “We are not providing cages. Rather we will look for interested parties who want to venture into cage culture and ensure they get a water body.”

Despite cage fish production being expensive, the initiative has been gaining traction, as there are now a number of fish farmers who are involved in cage culture.

“We have individuals from the Zimbabwean Fish Producers Association that we work with who have ventured into commercial cage production,” said Mr Makumbe.

In addition to complementing the commercial cages initiative, the department is introducing fish stock in irrigation schemes to capacitate the industry to produce more volumes of fish.

The country’s fish industry benefitting from the various Government led initiatives such as the Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme that is set to restock Zimbabwe’s 1,200 dams in 5-years in order to grow the sector into an important economic contributor.

“We are looking to introduce kapenta in the bulk of the country’s water bodies as we intend to grow the fish value chain”, said Mr Makumbe.

As the country’s fish industry grows, it is imperative that the proper infrastructure is put in place, as it will play a pivotal role in uplifting rural livelihoods in line with the thrust to achieve an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

The Government is set to establish fish processing sites and markets in provinces and hotspots of fish production in line with the fisheries and aquaculture development strategy that is part of efforts to develop the fishing industry through commercialisation.

The establishment of fish markets and processing centres will also assist in growing the industry, as a ready offtake market attracts new players in the industry.

The Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Department has since finalised the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Plan Strategy and is setting up a Fisheries and Aquaculture Act to provide a legal framework for the sector. It is also affiliating the country into various international charters on fisheries and aquaculture.