Cage Culture Fish Farming Offers Promise in Sri Lanka
ACDI/VOCA volunteer provides practical help to ‘intelligent, profit-based business model’
Things are looking up in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province.
The region is recovering from the civil war that ended in 2009; the economy is expanding, and many industries are rebuilding. The rehabilitation of infrastructure; reorganization of businesses; and expansion of public services, tourism and hotel chains have led to tremendous growth in consumer demand.
Fresh fish, in particular, is in high demand in both domestic and international markets. Changing consumer behavior worldwide has increased demand for farm-raised fish, including seabass, presenting a valuable opportunity to raise the incomes of regional fishing families and youth.
A recent ACDI/VOCA volunteer’s visit to Sri Lanka helped a local aquaculture company improve its seabass-raising practices and business, which should help some 3,000 local fisher families boost their incomes by about $3 million over the life of the project.
Innovations in fish farms offer higher incomes
ACDI/VOCA volunteer Roger Palm traveled to Sri Lanka in August to help Aqua Hatcheries Lanka Ltd. (AHL), a medium-sized aquaculture company, implement a seabass cage culture project in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province.
Working with local fisher associations, AHL conducted trials and experiments that confirmed that cage farming is a profitable enterprise with low start-up investment costs.
Area residents who were involved in the fishing industry—especially younger people—expressed interest in this type of fish farming because of its modern approach and high income potential.
AHL, which has produced and marketed aquaculture products for over 18 years, expects the cage culture project to involve 3,000 local fisher families and produce 1,000 tons of seabass per year, increasing incomes—and thus purchasing power—of the families by about $3 million over the life of the project.
Volunteer helps improve safety, management practices
AHL requested technical assistance from the USAID Facilitating Economic Growth in Sri Lanka program through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA) Leader with Associates mechanism to improve its fish-farming operations. Long-time VEGA member, ACDI/VOCA implements a subaward under the program and responded to the request by facilitating Palm’s visit to AHL’s production and processing facilities in Sri Lanka.
“The CEO of this firm, Anura Paranagama, is an enormously skilled entrepreneur and businessman,” Palm says, having interviewed and advised key AHL personnel, including management, technicians and extension staff.
“Although there are many potential direct and indirect beneficiaries of this seabass production project, the keys to success will be the management decisions and eventual profitability of the organization.”
Palm, who has a Ph.D. in fisheries, identified several key areas for improvement including
- avoiding bacterial infections during fish spawning and hatchery/nursery stages
- meeting stringent international food-safety and environmental regulatory requirements
- improving labor and skill development training methodologies to accomplish business goals and timelines
The expert volunteer worked with AHL to develop a disease prevention protocol, new short- and medium-term management approaches, regulatory and marketing strategies, and a professional training program for AHL’s key staff and farmers.
AHL is in the process of acting on Dr. Palm’s advice and technical recommendations.
Sri Lankan aquaculture industry holds promise
Following the assignment, Dr. Palm described the project as “an intelligent, profit-based business model for addressing development goals in economically depressed regions, such as the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, which is trying to recover after many years of ethnic conflict.”
With seed money and technical assistance from organizations like VEGA and ACDI/VOCA, Dr. Palm says this project could be a catalyst to develop a substantial aquaculture industry in Sri Lanka.
For more information on ACDI/VOCA’s role in Sri Lanka.
