Strategic plan presentation to develop the Fish Chain in Mato Grosso. (Photo: Embrapa/FIS)

Aquaculture can diversify the economy in Mato Grosso

BRAZIL
Thursday, April 12, 2012, 16:30 (GMT + 9)

A group of professors from the Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD) and researchers from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) released a Strategic Development Plan of the Fish Chain in the territory of Grande Dourados.

This plan, presented to the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Jorge Alberto Portanova Mendes Ribeiro Filho, aims to diversify the territorial economy, linking employment generation, income and food to social inclusion and sustainability.

Experts say that fish consumption is low in the region and the following is needed:

• Technology that is adapted to the local and family farming conditions to increase productivity and quality;
• Fish chain coordination;
• Organization of fish farmers.

While Mato Grosso has several rivers, such as Paraná and Paraguay, the per capita fish consumption is only 1.36 kilograms per year, which is pretty low for a state with such potential for fisheries development.

With respect to the Plan, Cristiano Márcio Alves de Souza, professor at UFGD indicated that he foresees the incorporation of 700 family farmers to the activity, the expansion of water surface to 1,300 hectares and the increase of productivity of fish farming to seven tonnes per hectare per year.

Moreover, the initiative aims to provide fish for consumption to about 70,000 students in the public basic education system once a week. It also seeks to increase fish production up to 13,000 tonnes per year and the annual consumption up to 12 kg per capita.

Another objective of the plan is to expand the production capacity of fry specimens (7 million).

The Plan organisers propose to structure the supply chain by building the Experimental Fish Farming, Training and Information Technology Centre as well as the Fish Technology Centre. They suggest developing a solidarity economy with technological assistance, coordinated strategically by UFGD. They also promote the expansion of aquaculture research infrastructure and the adequacy of the existing research to meet the needs of the production chain.

According to Guilherme Asmus, a researcher at Embrapa, "in Mato Grosso do Sul there are three lines of activities in fish farming: the production in excavated tanks, the use of dams net tanks and the integration of dairy production with fish farming," reported iDEST.

"The modalities serve all technology levels of fish farmers and cover almost the entire state," added the researcher.

By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
 

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