Fisheries workshop promotes fish farms

THE Fisheries Administration (FiA) held a workshop on fish farming in Siem Reap province with support from Agence Francaise Developpement (AFD), the provincial hall and other civil society organisations.

The workshop was organised to discuss the results of the implementation of a “fish price chain” and to highlight aquaculture projects in the Kingdom with the ultimate goal of encouraging fish farming in Cambodia.

Trailblazer Cambodia Organisation director Cheb Mali Bopha said her NGO is currently piloting a project to develop the fish price chain and aquaculture projects in the Kingdom to contribute to improving food security and nutrition and enhancing rural people’s livelihoods through a combination of development of agro-ecological fish farming techniques and respond to local markets.

“The technique of raising fish in the field is not a completely new technology for our country, because other organisations have adopted this technique and practiced it for many years. I hope that through this project, it will help solve the challenges of farmers in the fish farming business as well as contribute to reducing poverty in the target areas of Cambodia,” she said.

Siem Reap provincial deputy governor Ing Kimleang said that smallholder fish farming, in addition to playing an important role in food security, is also an important strategy for the development of the Cambodian community. He said that in the past, to meet household needs, farmers had tried to use existing ponds or reservoirs to raise fish.

“There are many challenges that our farmers have encountered, such as a lack of knowledge to study the needs of domestic and foreign markets, water shortages in the dry season, floods in the rainy season and high production costs, and all this is what we, the authorities, have to find a solution to for our farmers,” he said.

FiA representative Hav Viseth said that in the past, FiA and relevant partners have implemented many projects to improve the fisheries sector like the Field Fisheries Project of Food Security for the Future in Cambodia Phase I and II, and other livelihood and nutrition improvement projects through aquaculture.

He said that through these projects, the FiA has a vision to see the target farmers’ families live in abundance with improved living standards and food security.