Commercially-oriented fisheries, agriculture |05 May 2016

Fishermen and farmers met stakeholders in fishing and agriculture – bankers, insurers, hotel managers and buyers of their produce – in the first agribusiness forum to find ways to make them expand, increase their revenue and become commercially oriented in their daily activities.

The first agribusiness forum under the Competitive Local Innovations for Small Scale Agriculture (Clissa) which took place at the International Conference Centre of Seychelles (ICCS) yesterday, also aimed to provide an opportunity to build better business partnerships through networking and trading collaboration between the farmers, fishermen and key stakeholders in the two sectors.

Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Wallace Cosgrow launched the forum.

He reminded everyone present that we are living in a continuously changing world with an increasingly competitive global market from whose challenges we are not spared. He noted that it is for this reason that much more could and should be done to turn fishing and farming into proper businesses.

“Seychelles being classified as a high income country is good enough impetus for us to revisit our practice and investment within our development plan,” he said.

It was in 2013 that the government sought help from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) to co-finance its initiatives to revitalise and modernise the agriculture, livestock and fishery sectors. In May the same year a financing agreement in the form of a loan was signed between Ifad and the government to finance a programme called the Competitive Local Innovations for Small Scale Agriculture (Clissa) which officially started in November that year.

Georges Bibi, the Clissa project coordinator, said the forum comes at an opportune time when the two sectors are facing challenges which need urgent responses.

The forum provided the platform to discuss all that needs to be done to improve, strengthen or be reviewed for the better approaches that need to be adopted to ensure agricultural productions are doubled in the next five years and increase its contributions in the country’s GDP (gross domestic product) from 2% annually to 3 or 4%.

Clissa project consultant Guy Morel noted that there is a lot of money to be made in the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

He stressed that there are in fact three main sectors here with enormous potentials for development and that are crying out for investments and these are the water, food and renewable energy sectors.

“These are the key sectors for the future and this first agribusiness forum is the first step to speed up the agricultural and fishery sectors’ contributions to the country’s economy and at the same time empower more farmers and fishermen to have the knack for business so they can grow and expand,” said Mr Morel.

Mr Bibi said one of the main challenges facing farmers and fishermen is how they can be more competitive against cheaper imports. “It is important that we continue to remind ourselves that it has become rare for producers to determine prices as today consumers can choose among countless products from different origins of different qualities and different prices and it makes no sense to pretend otherwise,” he pointed out.

He stressed that farmers and fishermen need to organise themselves so they can be more competitive and be able to respond positively and effectively to changes in market demands.

With the increasing number of visitors to our country and also with consumers becoming more health conscious and turning to locally grown and fresh fruits and vegetables, Mr Morel said there is increasing demands and expanding market for local produce such as pumpkin, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, eggplants, mangoes, pawpaw, local bananas which are often being consumed by birds to name but a few. The same applies to local fish, poultry and eggs, but producers need to know how to find market for their produce, remain in business and remain competitive.

During the forum there were various short presentations on agribusiness issues, group discussions around key questions, ranging from improving networking between producers and buyers, adoption of appropriate technology in farming and artisanal fishing.

John Rachel, a well-known airline pilot turned farmer and who is now well-established, shared his experience to everyone present.