FAO meets Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister:

‘Lanka’s fisheries sector has huge investment potential’

The FAO communications team had the opportunity to meet Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne recently. A brief summary of this interview:

Q: What areas do you see the FAO’s involvement as being substantial and what areas do you think need more involvement from FAO?

A: I am very thankful to FAO in its efforts to provide technical and project support for our development programmes and for mobilizing donor funds to support the fisheries sector. The US $ 25 million tsunami rehabilitation package extended to Sri Lanka through FAO is one of the largest contributions made by a single agency of the UN-especially to the North and the East. We would be happy to have continued FAO support in increasing fish production from the marine sector as well by way of technical support in improving fish landing facilities and fishery harbours (Oluvil, Dikowita etc) and investment promotion in the marine sector.

Q: How could the fisheries sector be of any assistance to deal with the global food crisis in the coming years?

A: Drought and extreme weather conditions have affected agriculture production in many countries, including many developed countries. Australia was hit by a serious drought. Now we see food riots destabilizing many countries, including the Middle East. As you know, for us Sri Lankans, fish is the main source of animal protein. It provides about 70 percent of our animal protein intake. In fact that is why we are joining hands with organizations such as Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), another FAO linked body, to ensure sustenance of our resources. It was just couple of months back that the 15th session of IOTC was held with the participation of nearly 250 delegates from 35 countries. We welcome continued cooperation of FAO in this regard.

Q: To what extent has FAO helped the government to increase in the fish production from 2005 to 2010?

A: Several factors helped us achieve this increased production and FAO played an important role. The post tsunami scenario gave much emphasis for re-establishing the depleted national fleet.

We also received technical support and assistance in many areas including fish handling and reduction of post-harvest losses. I am aware that Sri Lanka will be benefited by an FAO Regional TCP on ‘Tuna Handling and Market Promotion’ to be launched shortly. FAO also supported the establishment of a fresh water pawn hatchery in Kahandamodara, that is currently providing fingerlings to the whole area. So we see FAO has very much supported the development efforts of the fisheries sector.

We are thankful to FAO for the assistance.

Q: What are the principal policies the ministry hopes to adopt in the export of fish and fish products?

A: This is a very hot topic right now. Our tuna exports have grown significantly over the last few years and the export value now stands at US $ 140 million/annum. It requires exports to satisfy several environmental and safety criteria. Product and market diversification is another area we wish to strengthen to add value to our exports rather than exporting raw material.

We also need to find new markets. We don’t want to just continue exporting. We like to broaden the product-base of our domestic market too, so that our consumers as well as processors can benefit from this.

Q: It appears that there is considerable interest from the investors both within and outside Sri Lanka in investing in the fisheries sector. What are the areas that you would encourage for such investment?

A: Our fisheries sector holds a lot of potential for investors. We are an island nation, strategically located in the Indian Ocean, blessed with vast, productive sea areas, with good air and sea freight networks, skilled labour etc.

We also have large reservoirs freshwater areas and lagoons suitable for aquaculture. One of the major thrust areas in our investment plan is offshore fisheries development. Another is aquaculture.

By way of support we do a lot to facilitate financing (commercial loans on eight percent interest with four percent subsidy), tax holidays as per the schemes introduced by the budget, other BOI facilitation and micro financing through donor funded (IFAD) projects.

Q: What are the obstacles you face in developing the fisheries sector in the country and how best do you think FAO can contribute to the government’s efforts?

A: As our aim is to increase fish production to around 686,000 MT by 2013 from the present 385,000 MT, we need much investment in the production sector through both capture and culture.

This is the biggest challenge we have. We need an increase in aquaculture production in the range of 75,000 MT to ensure we achieve our targets.

Thus, as far as FAO support is concerned, we feel we would benefit much from technology transfer and capacity building in areas such as aquaculture and fisheries infrastructure development. FAO could also facilitate donor funding for some of the developmental projects we have planned.

[Supporting flood-affected farmers in the North and East]

Heavy rainfall in two phases, the first from late December 2010-mid January 2011 and the second during late January 2011 caused devastating damage to districts throughout the Eastern, Northern and North-Central provinces of Sri Lanka. Since agriculture is the main livelihood activity in the affected areas, FAO appealed for US $ 6.4 million under the Flash Appeal 2011 to support flood affected farmers through provision of seeds (paddy, OFC and vegetable) and repair of irrigation tanks that were damaged by the floods.

To date, FAO has received US $ 4.6 million from the US $ 6.4 million appeal, which is supporting over 30,000 flood affected farmers in the North and East who lost their crops and have no means to resume their farming.

During this Yala season FAO is vulnerable farmers who are recent returnees. FAO is providing the following assistance:

* Over 141,060 bushels of seed paddy to plant approximately 47,020 acres (for 30,000 households)

* Other Field Crop seeds (green gram, cowpea, ground nut, maize, black gram) for 10,400 households

* Over 30,000 vegetable seed kits for 30,000 households (1 kit per household)

A detailed study of the damage caused by the floods to the agriculture sector has been conducted by FAO and the Agriculture Ministry in order to prepare a comprehensive rehabilitation strategy for agricultural recovery in the Eastern Province.

Courtesy: FAO UPDATE