The Government-funded Malu’u Fisheries Center in North Malaita will engage and improve the livelihood of 75 percent of the fishing community in that region with renovation works nearing completion.
This project is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to setup a mini scale commercial fisheries project in the Northern Region of Malaita.
The renovation component is funded by the Ministry of Commerce while the equipment for the facility will be sourced by the Ministry of Fisheries under a bilateral arrangement with the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Fund (OFCF) of Japan.
This is driven to promote and improve the commercialization of aquaculture and small scale fisheries.
The facility will be equipped with ice making machines and cold storage to safeguard fish products to required standards in fish handling, production, processing, marketing and consumption.
It supports the Fish Aggregating Devise program with a marketing value chain that will provide more future training opportunities to rural entrepreneurs in the fisheries sector.
Moreover, it sets the economic base to trigger small value added industries to improve livelihoods of fishers and farmers in integrated agro-fishery ecosystems to create income and self-employment that improves rural cash flow.
It contributes to enhance the sustainability, productivity and resilience of fish agro-food systems to reduce poverty, enhance food and nutrition security and improve natural resource systems for economic recovery, growth and sustainable economic development driven by micro, small and medium enterprises.
-GCU Press