A 40-foot container of Tilapia fish feed imported from Vietnam by the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is sitting idle at the Morobe Fisheries Authority storage facility at the Malahang Industrial area in Lae.

The fish feed was purchased and is being sold at K50 for a 20kg bag to fish farmers in the province, but fish farmers have not shown any interest in buying the feed.

Provincial aquaculture officer Esther Karahure said the fish feed was given to them in February by the NFA to sell to the local fish farmers in Morobe.

She said farmers came to the office, took quotations but have not come to buy them.

“These feeds are still in the container and are yet to be sold to the farmers. It is almost three months since we were issued the fish feed by NFA, but nothing has been sold as yet,” Ms Karahure said.

She said 16 primary inland fish farming cooperatives have come and taken quotations of the fish feed, but have not come to place any order or buy a bag.

She said what needs to be done now is to create awareness about the feed as far as the inland of Morobe Province to the local fish farmers and cooperatives.

“We are ready to conduct awareness if necessary funding is made available,” she said.

“Morobe is one of the active fish farming provinces in the country as seen by the NFA, where fish farmers farm fish on a bigger scale compared to other provinces. It is important that this fish feed is made known to them so they can buy and feed their fish.

Source: Papua New Guinea Post-Courier // Original Article