The people of Vanuatu are not eating enough fish and a senior Government official wants this trend to change for the better.
The Director General (DG) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity (MALFFB), Moses Amos has revealed that fish consumption today is the lowest rate in the world according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics.
Mr Amos said in order to maintain good health people need to eat more fish, at least 32 kilos of fish as recommended by WHO and not 15 to 21 kilos as they normally do.
He made the comments at the official opening of the newly upgraded Luganville Fish Market building.
Mr Amos encouraged people of Luganville and Santo to make use of the fish market for food consumption in order to maintain good health and meet the recommendation of the WHO.
He cautioned that today people need to have a change of mindset if they are serious about developing the productive sector.
“We as ni-Vanuatu must step up to make some very challenging decisions and take risks otherwise we will continue to depend and be influenced by advice from outside which never got us anywhere,” he stressed.
He referred to the Department of Livestock during the CRP process as a classic example whereby advisors from outside recommended that it be closed down.
“Today, the Government has come forward to re-invest in the cattle industry, because we listened to outside advice to close down an area which has a lot of strength and potential to improve.
“Now the Government has come forward to re-invest in livestock, fisheries, forestry and in agriculture to meet the needs and services of our population,” he said.
“If we want development, we must ensure we are fed first. If you wake up this morning and you don’t eat a food that is produced in Vanuatu, then you have a slight problem – it simply means we are not self-reliant yet, we still depend on food we import from oversea,” he said.
DG Amos assured the population of Luganville that the fish market provides a linkage to Sino-Van whereby it will be able to supply the market with frozen by-catches especially during bad weather condition when there is not enough supply.
He said the fish market is fully funded by the Government, therefore it is funded by the people of Vanuatu and it is their project.
“This is a dream come true after 36 years,” he concluded.
The Director General of Trade, Tourism, Commerce, Industry, Cooperatives and Ni-Vanuatu Business, Roy Mickey Joy who joined his counterpart Director General of Agriculture on this occasion described the new fish market as another milestone for the people of Santo and SANMA Province.
Photo supplied Caption: The newly upgraded Santo fish market