Diversification of Aquaculture Production: Sidi Touré launches an important project of 1.2 billion FCFA, from San Pedro – The Minister of Animal and Fisheries Resources proceeded on Saturday 20 May 2023 in San Pedro (Côte d’Ivoire), in the presence of the authorities of the region, to the launching of the Aquaculture Production Diversification Project called Pro-Diversification. This project, which is part of the implementation of the 23 projects of his ministry for the year 2023, is estimated at 1,209,738,000 FCFA.
The general objective of PRO-Diversification is to improve the coverage of national needs in fishery products. It is planned for a period of three years and will be national in scope, anchored in the town of San Pedro. In the long term, the PRO-Diversification should make it possible to promote marine aquaculture and create an experimental and learning centre for the mastery of new aquaculture species.
At the outset, Minister Sidi Touré expressed his gratitude to President Alassane Ouattara, “for his unfailing interest in the development of the animal and fisheries resources sector, and more particularly for the many actions he has taken to ensure self-sufficiency in proteins of fisheries origin. PRO-Diversification aims to contribute to the improvement of the coverage of national needs in fishery products, capacity building of actors, and integration of young people. Like the new projects in the aquaculture sector, PRO-DIVERIFICATION has an important role to play in achieving the objectives of food sovereignty in fisheries proteins and hopes to count on each of you to support its food sovereignty policy,” he stressed.
Minister Sidi Touré also said that “through the activity of creating the project’s experimental centre, young people will be able to learn the best practices in marine aquaculture, acquire technical skills to master the production of new species and actively participate in aquaculture production. This will boost, he insisted, the “capacity of aquaculture to provide decent jobs, sources of income for the population and to ensure the coverage of fisheries needs”. Convinced that this project will not only help the Region of San Pedro and therefore the whole of Côte d’Ivoire to move towards a sustainable economic development beneficial to all our populations, Sidi Touré called on young people to take an interest in the aquaculture sector. For the government’s ambition is “to ensure, by 2030, a structurally transformed, modernised and diversified Ivorian economy, aiming to free the Ivorian people from extreme poverty and vulnerability”, with a strong contribution from the fisheries resources sector.
As a reminder, fish is the first and most consumed source of animal protein in Côte d’Ivoire and this consumption has exceeded 25 kg per capita per year since 2020. National fish consumption needs are estimated at 641,619 tonnes, while annual national fish production, including fishing and aquaculture, is 105,219 tonnes on average, with 6,300 tonnes for aquaculture.
Diversification of Aquaculture Production: Sidi Touré launches an important 1.2 billion FCFA project from San Pedro
