Daily Times

Aquaculture is emerging activity providing new opportunities to the rural population in the country and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to its diverse ecological zones has an edge over other provinces.

Talking to APP, Omar Hayat Khan, a noted expert on fisheries and aquaculture said that the availability of different ecological temperature zones with land, water and human resource provide an edge to develop aquaculture as a sub sector of agriculture.

He said that the untapped renewable aquatic resource provides ample opportunities to develop export led interventions in aquaculture in the province. The untapped potential can provide employment opportunities to youth in rural areas and also provide to meet the millennium goals to which Pakistan is a signatory.

The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has invested millions of rupees to develop hatcheries of the carp and trout fishes. But now they need further improvements to cater to the need of private sector. Adequate opportunities are available to attract foreign direct investment in the field of new technologies and new fish products which are in high demand in the foreign markets such as warm water Grouper fish.

He said that the existing Government hatcheries can be utilized by the foreign direct investors to utilize the services of these facilities for production of fish seed and get partnership with private sector for fish production for export though chamber of commerce and industries, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other chambers of commerce and industries in the country to produce fish feed for this particular this new intervention.

Omar Hayat said that modalities with the direct foreign investors should be worked out or a model be developed by the Board of Investment and Trade (BOIT), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The private direct investors can be attracted to this new activity as the private sector can produce the fish for both processing and direct export demanding of the exporting country, China is one of them.

The step, he said will provide support to the underutilized fish processing units in the country. The owners of these fish processing units will fully support this endeavor of the provincial government.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget, he said is silent on the innovative approach to development of fisheries and aquaculture. This sub sector of agriculture potential can be developed for tourism point of view in the newly merged districts as well as Malakand and Hazara divisions. Each district provides unique opportunity of development of fisheries and aquaculture. These two regions of Hazara and Malakand have the potential to further develop Trout Fish Aquaculture for local consumption and for export.

The impediments have to be removed with provincial government support to overcome proper production of quality trout fish seed by providing financial support for procurement of requisite equipment for production of quality trout fish seed for the private sector.

In Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu and DIKhan Division have the potential to develop Group, Talipia and other warm water fishes which have export potentials. Board of Investment and Trade, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can play a crucial role in attracting direct private investment by aligning the private sector.

Coordinated efforts are required from all quarters’ i.e Fisheries Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, BOIT, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), Ministries of Commerce and Industries.

Provincial Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has for first time earmarked budget for the development of Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Development Strategy. Fisheries Department should coordinate development of policy with SMEDA and other stakeholders as it has been doing so for other provincial departments.

The southern districts of Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Karak, Haripur have another potential of small dams which can also be utilized for fish aquaculture. The potential is immense but due focus has to be given on improvement of the Management and aligning the Fisheries Department activities to attract direct foreign investment.

The investors should be facilitated and SIFC has also needs to be taken on board for the new initiatives in sub sector of fisheries and aquaculture to harness the full potential of the aquatic resources of the provinces to generate new employment opportunities and trigger financial uplift in rural areas and earn high required foreign exchange for the country.