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)