October 8, 2014
SixAsian countries draft aquaculture work plans to meet demand
Six Asian countries - five of them among those with the highest populations in the region - are drafting work plans for the environmentally sound and sustainable development of aquaculture, in consultation with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
"There is a clear need to intensify aquaculture but it must be sustainable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable," said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO assistant director-general and regional representative for Asia and the Pacific, in his opening talk at the recent two-day initial workshop attended by representatives of the governments of Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
"FAO is supporting each country with its own initiatives in blue-growth strategies and work plans," he added.
The six countries aim to have the so-called blue-growth work plans in place by March or April next year in time for FAO''s biannual conference in Rome in June 2015.
Demand for high-value, protein-rich foods like fish is growing along with the rapid GDP growth and urbanization in Asia-Pacific countries, Konuma noted.
He cited a UN Development Programme study that predicts the number of people in the middle-income group in Asia-Pacific would triple by 2020 (from 2009), exponentially increasing demand for fish, particularly in China, India and Indonesia.
At present the region produces 90% of total aquaculture output in the world and consumes 50% of total production.
Tilapia, carp, and catfish are seen to be the fastest-growing in terms of production, with tilapia production expected to almost double from 4.3 million tonnes to 7.3 million tonnes a year between 2010 and 2030.