In terms of Government Policy, the Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust (NFCPT) and Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources want to achieve at least 20.4kg fish consumption per person per year within this financial year, fisheries and marine resources minister, Derek Klazen has said.
This translates to about 47,000mt consumed within Namibia.
“Ultimately, we would like to see that at least 30% of horse mackerel TAC, or about 100,000MT is sold locally. This policy objective is informed by the fact that selling fish locally will stimulate economic activities which will lead to an enterprise development. This 100,000MT of fish will be sold in fish shops and in our streets by Namibians.
“Some of the fish will be dried, some smoked, and some fish will be frozen, while others will be in canned form. All these value addition activities will create jobs for Namibians, and thus will unlock the value of our fish in villages far away from the ocean. In addition, I want to see our people consuming enough fish, because eating fish is healthy, and will lead to a healthy population. Also local selling of fish will therefore contribute to our fight to eradicate poverty – a fight we must win collectively,” the minister said.
Klazen was speaking at the occasion of the national fish consumption day breakfast launch
Every year, NFCPT through the National Fish Consumption Day initiative raises funds for regional educational development purposes in the host Region. These funds are collected by the NFCPT and the Trust in turn procures school items that are needed by the host region through the regional authority.
“I am informed that since the gala dinner donations were started nine years ago, NFCPT and stakeholders have raised over N$5 million, which was utilised to address educational and social needs in those regions.
“Let me also clarify that this Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative is by no means the only way that the fishing industry shares the benefits of our fisheries with the wider Namibian community: the industry pays fishing levies, quota fees and taxes, which are in turn distributed through the National Budget to all regions in the country to build roads, schools, hospitals, and other developments. Therefore, the National Fish Consumption Day donations are a top-up of fisheries sector contribution to society, which comes with the educational component of imparting culinary skills and socio-economic benefits of consuming fish, another emphasis of our care,” explained Klazen adding that these gestures demonstrates the commitment by stakeholders in the fishing industry to contribute to achieving quality education for our children.
He went on to commend the Trust in its efforts to ensure its footprint is established in all parts of our country by establishing fish shops in all the regions.
“I am also informed that in the furtherance of its mandate, the NFCPT partnered with the Namibia University of Science and Technology’s Business Innovation Institute (NBII) to assist with conducting and implementing the training and recruitment of fish distribution agents under the project titled “Identifying innovative distribution agents for the Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust”.
“The project is at a trial stage, and once found viable it will not only increase the accessibility of fish to the Namibian population through partnership with potential agents who will be able to take fish to towns and localities where NFCPT does not have fish shops, but will also allow participants to gain knowledge in business administration through capacity building by NBII,” he further said.
This projected is expected to be implemented in two phases and Phase one aims to capacitate the potential start-ups, SMEs and, other retailers with growth potential to establish and grow businesses in fish retail business. The capacity building training in the pilot phase will be hosted in selected towns namely, Ruacana, Helao Nafidi, Divundu, Epukiro, Okahandja and Oranjemund.
“Please note that these training centres were identified to be critically important because of their proximity as well as absence of NFCPT activities there. Ladies and gentlemen, I therefore wish to inform all prospective applicants that this training will be offered for free to all participants. In addition, a call for participation through a public notice was published in the print and social media.
“Applications and registration are currently open and will close on 03 October 2022. Interested applicants are requested to apply and register on-line. The two-day training will be limited to thirty (30) participants per training session, per centre. Particularly, it is important for the youth and women business start-ups, SMEs and, other retailers to participate in the training sessions in order to build their capacities to establish and run sustainable fish shops or retail business,” Klazen remarked.
On phase two, out of the trained participants, the applicants who succeed by submitting viable and sustainable business proposals as distribution agents will receive additional capacity building and mentorship once they start operating.
“The purpose of the training is to ensure successful business continuity and sustainability of their respective businesses beyond one year of the business operation. All applicants for the Distribution Agents (youth and women business start-ups, and SMEs) will be expected to submit competitive bids in order to be selected, and qualify for the programme.”