Zanzibar fishers get Japanese aid

Agri-Business 

Monday, March 17, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - The Zanzibar government has received a $8.5 million Japanese grant for the development of the Malindi fish landing and marketing facilities in Zanzibar.
In a press statement to East African Business Week it is stated that the money will be used for the construction of the landing quays. This will enable safe accommodation of about 400 fishing boats on the island.
The funds will also help in the construction of a fish market and the provision of equipment that would allow smooth operations for around 6,000 users besides helping in fishing management programs.
The grant agreement according to the statement was signed by the chief representative of JICA, Tanzania Office Yasunori Onishi and Khamis Omar, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance in the Revolutionary government of Zanzibar.
According to Onishi, the implementation of these components will to the greater extent help in implementation of the said projects which will later lead to the stable supply of better quality fish to the people of Zanzibar.
According to Zanzibar government officials the funds will help in ensuring that the illegal fishing practices is halted which will later translate into a more modern fishing methods in order to protect environment and ensure a rapid income in the fishing industry.
An official in Zanzibar government said the construction of a $2.5million complex owned by the Zanzibar Fishing Authority last year was also one the indicators that the fishing industry in the isle is improving.
He said Zanzibar was willing to do its level best to ensure that fishing sector generates the more income for its people.
Currently Zanzibar major export earnings are from cloves which dropped last year to $2.1 million exports during the year ending September 2013, being a 60.2% drop from $4.3 million exported during the preceding year according to according to the Bank of Tanzania’s (BoT) Monthly Economic Review for October 2013.
With the decline in clove exports last year, Zanzibar’s export of goods and services dropped to $176.4 million during the year ending September 2013 from $196.6 million recorded in the same period a year before.
Despite the support being rendered to the fishing industry, most Zanzibar’s are also farmers, farming mainly Cassava, Sweat potatoes Rice, Cloves at relatively small scale with only one Research Institute at Kizimbani Research Center.

By Kenan Kalagho, Monday, March 17th, 2014