INCREASE FISH PRODUCTION, SAYS CHIEF CHIPEPO

THERE is need for elevation of food security through expanding fish production to ensure affordable tilapia availability to low-income communities,” chief Chipepo of the Tonga speaking people has advised.

He said the country should come up with a sustainable tilapia production on Lake Kariba with a focus on primarily supplying fish to low-income communities across the country. Chief Chipepo said following dwindling income for most poor households due to slowed down economic activities as a result of coronavirus outbreak, there was a more likelihood that the country was going to face food and nutrition challenges but that with a well thought plan in place, the country can still overcome the shortage by heightening fish production on Lake Kariba. He said Lake Kariba had the capacity to become sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest- growing fish producer by expanding production to 100,000 tonnes of tilapia per year. “In order to achieve this, Government of Zambia should promote innovative technologies that will help bring together the best aquaculture aimed at boosting production of fish and to tackle the challenge of providing accessible, affordable and healthy protein to the population,” he said. He said the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on production of food was real and it was up to stakeholders to come up with innovative ideas aimed at bringing to light the importance of elevating the issue of food security. “As a country we need to localise food supply chains and make them sustainable, rather than relying on imports because we don’t know how long coronavirus will take before it’s defeated,” he said. Chief Chipepo also said that while some companies had already setup fish production ventures on the man- made lake, there was still big room for other investors to come and invest in production of tilapia for the local market and export to the sub region and beyond.