Govt secures US$50m AfDB loan for fish Industry

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 15:01:22 +0000

GOVERNMENT has acquired US$50 loan from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to scale up fish farming in the under the aqua culture project,  says Minister of Fisheries and Livestock Michael Katambo.

Mr Katambo said Zambia has a deficit of 85 tonnes of fish as indicated in the statistics collected by his ministry.

Speaking at a PF media interactive forum, Mr.Katambo who is Masaiti Member of parliament said that Senior Chief Chiwala of the Lamba people had offered 800 hectares of land for the establishment of a livestock centre.

He said the ministry was scaling up programmes such as restocking of different species of animals and pasture development to which it was facilitating seed.

He has since urged the citizens to take up farming by developing small holder scheme and access to matching grants being offered under his ministry.

“I want to inform the public that government has acquired a loan from AfDB to stock up fish countrywide as you know currently we have a deficit.

The project of fish farming was under the aquaculture development and will soon be rolled out to all the 10 provinces.

Much focus will be placed on provinces with huge natural water bodies to do cage and pond farming.

“My ministry is working to ensure that Zambia becomes a net exporter of fish in the next few years,” he said.

And Mr Katambo said under the livestock sector, the ministry was doing artificial insemination using funds allocated under the 2017 national budget.

Mr Katambo further stressed that   there is need for the ministry to employ qualified staff to fill up the vacancies in the 17 breeding centres in the country.