2024-08-29 07:17:08
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After 66 months in the regions of Forest Guinea, in Upper and Lower Guinea, the Family Commercial Fish Farming Development Project (PISCOFAM) is coming to an end this Wednesday, August 28, through an open day in Conakry. During these 5 and a half years, several actors have benefited from the project on the strengthening of their capacities, in particular fish farmers organized in federations, the National Agency of Aquaculture of Guinea also delegated project owner, aquaculture institutions, service provider NGOs who operate in the field in the advisory support to fish farmers
This project aims to reduce poverty by improving food and nutritional security and increasing income in rural areas, especially for rural farmers who implement integrated family fish farming.
The project coordinator, Adama Camara, after a detailed explanation, through a slide show to present the overall plan of the project and the path taken, returned during an interview granted to the press on the benefits of the project which amounts to 10 million euros, through the financing of AFD-Guinea. “We are very happy to welcome the partners because after 2 decades of implementation of this project, the impacts, you must have noticed them just now, are enormous. In economic terms, the expert has just recalled that the project was able to generate a gross added value of one million euros, which corresponds to 10 billion Guinean francs, which constitutes a very significant contribution to the family economy of these fish farmers. And then, it should be noted that this project has a very high impact in institutional terms since the National Aquaculture Agency of Guinea, which is now responsible for the delegated project management of this project, was created from this funding in 2018. Before that, it was a National Directorate of Fish Farming that led the previous projects,” he said.
Present in the room, the Director of the French Development Agency in Guinea, Jeanne Vanuxem Milleliri, recalled that this project has just accumulated 2 decades of support for actors working in fish farming in Guinea. “The activities on this project ended on June 30 of this year. The National Aquaculture Agency of Guinea (ANAG) is now implementing several writing works from this workshop in order to disseminate the results obtained as well as the conclusions of the impact study on 20 years of support for fish farming in Forest Guinea… Overall, the impact study has demonstrated a positive effect of fish farming on reducing household vulnerability,” she stressed before reassuring that the institution she represents here will always be there to support Guinea in this sector.
In her speech, the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, Fatima Camara, who kicked off this closing ceremony, on behalf of the President of the Transition and the Head of Government, welcomed all the stakeholders involved in the success of this promising and highly significant project, before specifying the following: “Commercial aquaculture is currently gaining momentum in our country. Today, with this project, the Republic of Guinea has a successful experience of “family fish farming”, thanks to innovations in lowland development and attractive technical support for family farms. In addition to its contribution to food security as a source of quality animal protein, it has proven socio-economic and environmental benefits in terms of rural development.
Furthermore, Minister Fatima Camara took the opportunity to express her sincere thanks, congratulations and gratitude to all the stakeholders involved in the success of this promising and highly significant project, particularly to the AFD. “Your commitment, dedication and expertise have made it possible to achieve the ambitious objectives that we had set for ourselves. This PISCOFAM project reflects our shared vision of a sustainable and prosperous future for our country, Guinea.
Producers and local stakeholders for their dynamism and resilience, you are the true artisans of this success, and I encourage you to continue on this path.”
Further, the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy reaffirmed the commitment of the government to which she belongs to continue working for the development of fish farming in particular and Aquaculture in general in Guinea. “We firmly believe that this sector has immense potential and that it can play a key role in our economic and social development strategy,” she insisted, while wishing a good open day of sharing and exchanges to all the actors present here.
Mamadou Yaya Barry