On Wednesday (30), the members of the Technical Group of Fisheries will deliver to the vice president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin, a report with the critical points identified by the transition team in the Brazilian aquaculture sector.

The former minister and coordinator of the WG, Altemir Gregolin, points out as the main obstacles to the low budget and the small structure of the Ministry of Agriculture to serve the sector. "We are proposing, immediately, for next year, an adjustment and raise this budget. Today has a budget of 19 million reais in the ministry, we arrived in 2015 with 300 million reais when there was the ministry, so there is a drastic reduction and it is an insufficient budget to provide basic services and make the necessary investments in the sector", he said.

In Gregolin's assessment, with more resources and structure, it will be possible to leverage aquaculture and fishing production in Brazil, reducing the country's dependence on fish imports. "With this richness we have of natural resources, species, and raw material for feed, such as corn and soybeans. Brazil has all the conditions to be a major world producer of fish," he said.  

Re-creation of the Ministry of Fisheries

During the election campaign, Lula defended the re-creation of the Ministry of Fisheries. In the same vein, the coordinator of the Wg spoke in defense of the transformation of the Secretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture into a new ministry, aiming to ensure the end of institutional instability in the sector.

For Gregolin, investing in fish production is strategic for Brazil, to improve income and promote food security for thousands of fishing families, as well as to generate job, employment and income opportunities for thousands of small and medium-sized fish farmers.

"An institution with power and authority to interlocution inside and outside the government, formulate public policies and make, from an economic point of view, more than 300,000 fish farmers, 1 million families of fishermen and 10,000 workers in the industry, protagonists of strengthening a production chain that is already highlighted in the country," he said.

Source: Canal Rural