By Anna Ingwafa
OSHAKATI
Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust (NFCPT) under the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources donated the first fish consignment to flood victims in the Oshana Region on Friday.
Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resource, Dr Abraham Iyambo, together with officials from NFCPT brought a 24-tonne truck from Walvis Bay with various fish species.
The trust is a government initiative tasked with the promotion and distribution of fish in the country at affordable prices.
In a bid to promote fish eating among locals, Namibia set up a trust following high fish prices on the market.
Iyambo said his ministry together with the Ministry of Finance came up with the fish for all the 13 regions and will buy four-tonne trucks before March 15, to transport fish to the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has three refrigerated containers in Ongwediva, Ondangwa and Rundu.
The minister met governors from Kunene, Dudu Murorua, Oshikoto’s Penda ya Ndakolo and Omusati’s Funeka Shigwedha representing Governor Sacky Kayone.
Iyambo appealed to the governors to identify places in their regions where people will have access to buy fish.
The governors from Omusati and Oshikoto indicated that they would consult their councillors while Governor Murorua expressed appreciation for the move to subsidise the fish and identified Kamanjab and Opuwo as places where people could obtain the fish.
In order to limit the number of businesspeople that might be tempted to buy and resell the fish, the trust only allows half-a-tonne per family to allow the community access to affordable fish.
Iyambo said the trust does not replace the existing aquaculture projects that are already in the regions but is an extra effort to expose Namibians to different types of fish in the country.
The prices for different fish species for factory/vessels prices compared to the Namibian Fish Consumption Promotion Trust are:
Fish Species Factory/Vessels Prices NFCPT Prices
Mackerel 20+ N$8.15 N$7.15
Mackerel 16+ N$6.67 N$5.67
Mackerel 16- N$6.21 N$5.21
Hake N$5.52 N$4.53
Alfonsino N$6.90 N$5.90
Snoek N$5.52 N$4.52
Reds Dentex N$5.75 N$4.75
Silver Angel N$7.48 N$6.48
Hake Head N$3.15 N$1.50
Ribbon Snoek N$4.25 N$3.60
Jackopever N$4.60 N$3.60
Iyambo was accompanied by the General Manager of Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust, Kaire Kandjavera, Deputy Chair of the Trust, Joel Amadhila, and officials from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
The Namibian Fish Consumption Trust was set up in 1994 by the Government to promote fish consumption throughout the country and ensure that the promotion of fish consumption goes hand in hand with imparting skills on how to prepare different fish cuisines.