By: Hana Saada
ALGIERS– Minister of Fisheries and Fish Products, Hicham Sofiane Salaouatchi, said Monday in Khenchela that “the increase in production capacity of red Tilapia will contribute to strengthening food security”.
After listening to a presentation on the increase in production of the Cosider aquaculture farm in the municipality of Babar, the Minister considered that this “successful model represents one of the pillars of food sovereignty which contributes to the consolidation of food security ”.
Noting that the Minister of Fisheries and Fishery Products, Hicham Sofiane Salaouatchi, paid a working visit to the eastern province of Khenchela where he inspected the Cosider Filaha aquaculture farm in the municipality of Babar.
Welcoming Cosider’s experience, Mr. Salaoutchi noted that “the fruitful results of this experience has encouraged its generalization to other wilayas, assuring that he will inaugurate, today, Tuesday, a new Tilapia breeding project in the wilaya of Biskra.
Besides, the Minister, accompanied by the Wali of Khenchela, Youssef Mahiout, supervised the inauguration of a red tilapia breeding hatchery belonging to the Cosider Falaha investor, with a production capacity of 500,000 units of young fish. He also inspected the red tilapia fishing operation for marketing.
During the inauguration of the Tilapia hatchery, Salaouatchi stressed the importance of this project which strengthens the local production chain through its local reproduction and fattening according to a technique developed by engineers from the Fisheries and Research and Development Center for Aquaculture and the production of floating cages by Algerian companies.
In a related context, the Minister presided over the graduation ceremony for the first class of trainees in the vocational training sector specializing in fish farming before attending the presentation of the land allocation certificate reserved for the area of aquaculture activities in the perimeter Lebreg locality south of the municipality of Babar.
Mr. Salaouatchi indicated that he was accompanied during his visit by a group of operators from the fish processing industry to consider a possible Tilapia processing and packaging operation in order to diversify the supply of fish and encourage the development of Tilapia farms.
During his visit to a farm that integrates fish farming in the perimeter of Bounegar south of Babar, where an agreement was signed between the investor and the Algerian Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture for the marketing of Tilapias produced during Ramadan, the Minister welcomed the results of this experience where investment creates wealth and jobs.
At the end of his visit to the wilaya, the Minister listened to the concerns of professionals in the sector before inviting young people to invest in this niche and to organize themselves into cooperatives to benefit from the various advantages granted by the State and support funds to easily market their productions.
In order to strengthen the market supply of processing and aquaculture products during the month of Ramadhan, three agreements were signed between the Algerian Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture (CAPA) and two tuna canneries as well as a aquaculture company.
The two canneries (CPC de Baba Ali and Sarl Cogeat) as well as the aquaculture company (Boumerdes fish company) will provide the Rahma markets, open during the month of Ramadan on a national scale, with sea bream and various cannery between tuna and sardines in particular, at factory prices, according to the clauses of the agreement.
These agreements were initialed with the canneries and the aquaculture company, on the sidelines of the commissioning ceremony for a 35-metre tuna boat, chaired by the Ministers of Fisheries and Fisheries Products, Hichem Sofiane Salaouatchi and the Minister of Transport, Kamel Beldjoud.
Indeed, Salaouatchi recalled the “successful” experience of the direct sale of sea bream and tilapia, launched last Ramadan by CAPA and which had enabled consumers to obtain supplies of these two aquaculture fish at “ affordable” prices.
According to the minister, bluefin tuna will also be sold at affordable prices “between 800 and 1,200 dinars”, as will sea bream and tilapia.
In addition, fishermen and operators in the sector discussed, with the Minister, their socio-professional problems, in particular the mobilization of fishermen’s huts.
As a reminder, the Minister of Fisheries and Fishery Products, last month, presented a project for the specific social protection scheme for the benefit of fishing professionals, aimed at improving the working conditions of fishing professionals by implementation of a system that mainly supports two categories of fishing professionals. These are those who are affected by periods of temporary cessation of activity due to biological rest and those who are affected by technical unemployment due to bad weather.
Directly from producer to consumer: 27 POS of aquaculture products at competitive prices in Algiers
Fish resources have considerably diminished over the past ten years, particularly in the Mediterranean Basin. In Algeria, the public authorities are encouraging the consumption of products from aquaculture, the prices of which are more affordable.
No less than 27 points of sale have been dedicated for the sale of aquaculture products at competitive prices in the wilaya of Algiers, under the slogan “Directly from producer to consumer”, said the Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Wilaya of Algiers, Atouf Kadour.
“This operation, supervised by the Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture, began with the opening of special points for the sale of aquaculture products, such as; red tilapia and sea bream, with the aim to protect the purchasing power of the Algerians,” he specified.
“The price of a kilogram of red tilapia is 550 DA, that of sea bream does not exceed 1,090 DA, while the small size stands for 990 DA”, he underlined.
In a statement, the director of the local Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ali Bit said that “the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has drawn up a plan to open new points of sale of the aquaculture products with the aim to sell fish directly to consumers, enabling them to acquire locally produced fresh fish at very reasonable prices.”
“The number of the points of sale would increase in the coming days, because the operation aims to provide aquaculture products in various regions of the wilaya at reasonable prices within the reach of the consumer, in addition to the provision of these products during the holy month of Ramadan.”
