BAHRAIN’S drive towards food security and self-sufficiency is on track with the kingdom producing increasing amounts of fish feed locally, according to a top minister.
The assurance came from Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf as he visited the National Aquaculture Centre in Ras Hayyan yesterday to review the project to produce fish feed locally and thereby reduce the imports of raw materials.
Mr Khalaf stressed the ministry’s strategy supports initiatives and projects aimed to boost the local fish production, and the importance of aquaculture projects which will bolster food security by contributing to increased local fish production.
Partnerships
The GDN has previously reported on the Ras Hayyan centre’s importance in producing local fish such as hammour and sea bream, as well as ongoing discussions regarding partnerships with China and Kuwait on local fisheries projects.
Mr Khalaf reviewed the maintenance operations including fish production hatcheries. The centre aims to boost its efficiency to keep pace with the development taking place with a target of 20 million fingerlings being farmed locally by the year 2025.
Fingerlings are young or small fish, typically called so after hatching and before they reach their full-grown size.
Also unveiled during the visit were plans to deepen and widen the waterways leading to the pumping station, and to make use of the sea lakes adjacent to the centre which will be using a four-hectare stretch of sea for the cultivation of fish and algae.
Cultivation
As previously reported, the area could also become the region’s centre for cultivating, nurturing and exporting a variety of sea plants, including seaweed, to countries like China, Japan, Korea and Thailand.
“There is huge local, regional and international interest in aquafarming investments in Bahrain and it is not all about fish … but sea plants too,” Mohammed Buhamood, public utilities and environment affairs committee chairman, told reporters previously.
“Sea plants are important to the ecosystem and the fishing process, while to some Southeast Asian countries like China, Korea, Thailand and Japan, they are a popular delicacy.”
Agriculture and Marine Resources Under-Secretary Dr Nabeel Abul Fateh said the minister was also updated about experiments to produce ‘microalgae’, which are vital for the production of fingerlings.
These microscopic algae, also called microphytes, are typically found in freshwater and marine systems and are a food source for the fingerlings.
Work is also underway to complete the second phase of land-levelling which will provide 70,000sqm and will contribute to increasing inland fish production in Bahrain.
These initiatives come as part of His Majesty King Hamad’s vision for a national food production strategy, using modern technologies, first announced during a keynote speech in October 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa echoed this goal last month when he announced that 20 locations had been earmarked for food security projects focusing on hydroponics and aquaculture.
“Bahrain imports 90 per cent of its food supplies and the contribution of agricultural and fishing activities to the GDP has been the same for the past decade,” said Shaikh Khalid.
The Cabinet has allocated BD2.5m in the 2021-22 budget towards securing strategic stockpiles.
Shaikh Khalid also spoke about local projects such as fish farms, poultry and egg production, all to be done sustainably and without the use of illegal fishing traps.
The Global Food Security Index 2019, prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked Bahrain 50th globally on the list of most food secure nations in the world and recognised that the funding for the kingdom’s food security programmes was higher than the world average.
“Our aim is to reach the 25th spot by 2030,” said Shaikh Khalid.
Mr Khalaf previously announced plans to increase the production of fisheries from 50 per cent to 62pc of local consumption this year.
He also noted that tadpole production had been increased to 1.5 million which will be released in the sea as feed for fish.
The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, is also set to invest in a food security investment company.
In total, BD400 million-worth of projects are underway to establish hydroponic farms and 356 greenhouses – covering 260,000sqm of land – which will produce 3,600 tonnes of food annually and 1,112,000sqm of sea, which will lead to an annual production of 9,250 tonnes of fish such as safi, hammour and sea bream.
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