China produces 70.2 percent of the world's farmed fish and other aquaculture products, a senior official with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations said in Beijing Thursday.

Ichiro Nomura, assistant director-general of FAO's Fisheries Department, is here to attend the first session of the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture under the FAO's Committee on Fisheries held from April 18 to 22.

"China will be a good teacher in aquaculture development to the whole world, especially to developing countries," he said. "Because it has a lot of know-how and good experts."

China is expected to improve the data collecting system and provide more detailed information about how to develop aquaculture, as the information it provides will have great influence on the world's aquaculture production, he said.

Aquaculture has proved to be efficient in increasing farmers' income and improving food supply while protecting water resources and natural fishery resources, Nomura said.

FAO figure shows that aquaculture has been the world's fastest growing food-producing sector with a growth rate of 11 percent annually since 1984. The top ten aquaculture producing countries are all located in Asia.

"However, in some countries the aquaculture industry has been inadequately planned and inappropriately managed," he said. "As a major supplier of aquatic products, China is in a good position to push the world's aquaculture production towards a positive and sustainable direction."

According to China's Ministry of Agriculture, last year China produced 27.26 million tons of aquatic products through breeding, which accounted for 62 percent of the total aquatic production.

The Sub-Committee on Aquaculture was founded last year in the 24th meeting of FAO's Committee on Fisheries that aims to provide a forum for consultation on aquaculture and its sustainable development.

( April 19, 2002)