The Moroccan ANEF promotes fish farming in the desert
Editor/Mohamed Shihab
Morocco has launched an innovative aquaculture plan in the desert, taking advantage of agricultural irrigation ponds in the arid areas of the northeast of the country for fish production and seeking to change the habits of a local population that is reluctant to consume farmed fish, according to the EFE agency.
This project, launched by the National Agency for Water and Forests (ANEF), is being developed in the province of Jerada, about 60 kilometers south of Oujda and near the border with Algeria. The objective is to promote the breeding of species such as silver carp and tilapia in the agricultural reservoirs of the area, optimizing both agricultural and aquaculture production and strengthening food security. Aquaculture in inland waters is an underdeveloped sector in Morocco, whose production in 2023 was 750 tons (including trout, carp, tilapia, and eel). However, the country has recently implemented a strategy to boost the sector, to reach a production of 25,000 tons by 2030.
At a recent event, ANEF distributed fingerlings to small farmers in the province. One of the beneficiaries, from his agricultural land in the rural town of Guenfouda, received silver carp fingerlings that he planted in his several hundred square meters water tank. During the process, aquaculture technicians, dressed in white coats, carried out the acclimatization of the fingerlings by pouring water from the reservoir into a plastic basin, before transferring them to the breeding pond.
Mohamed Badr Laamiri, head of the Department of inland fisheries and Aquaculture at ANEF, explained to EFE that the breeding of silver carp does not entail additional costs for farmers, since it is a species resistant to hot climates, feeds on phytoplankton by filtration and contributes to cleaning and improving the quality of the water. "It is an extensive culture. The carp cleans the algae reservoir, and the farmer only needs to harvest the fish when it reaches about two kilos in weight within two years," Laamiri explained.
The fish obtained can be used for the farmer's consumption or sold. Laamiri also announced that ANEF will soon establish a Center for Fish Production and Training in Desert Aquaculture Trades in the region, which will function as a platform for the production of fry and the marketing and packaging of fish.
The project also includes the promotion of tilapia breeding, a profitable species for local farmers. According to Laamiri, aquaculture in the area has great potential, with an investment of around 25 million dirhams (2.3 million euros) planned over three years, which seeks to boost the sector, generate employment and meet the growing demand.
Another objective is to change the inhabitants' perception, whose diet is mainly based on meat and who tend to prefer seafish due to a distrust of farmed fish. Laamiri is confident that this attitude will change, pointing out that in the eighties people were also reluctant to consume farmed chicken. "A communication effort is needed to change this perception," he said.
"Farmed carp and tilapia have the same nutritional value as sea fish. The only difference is that farmed fish is more accessible and cheaper," said Laamiri.
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