Head of the ministry’s Research and Human Resource Agency Sjarief Widjaja noted in a statement here on Saturday that feed was a key component in fish farming, as 60-70 percent of the production costs are allotted for feed.
However, owing to limited feed producers, the price of the commodity in the market is still steep.
"Only some regions in Indonesia have a (feed) factory, while the product must be distributed to fish farmers in all regions. This has resulted in higher costs owing to the expensive transportation fee," he stated.
Hence, the ministry has encouraged the public to produce fish feed to help farmers in lowering the production cost for feed.
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A total of 2,501 participants from 33 provinces partook in the online training held on Thursday (June 11). The participants hailed from different backgrounds, such as civil servants, students, teachers, lecturers, housewives, medical workers, and military personnel.
The Fishery Training Agency in Tegal, Central Java, facilitated the training. The use of locally produced feed is projected to reduce the commodity’s cost by 50 percent.
Widjaja pointed to feed production still having huge potential, as fish farming is forecast to grow faster in the next five years.
"The fish farming area in Indonesia spans nearly two million hectares of which only 400 thousand hectares had been well-managed, thereby translating to the fact that our farming area had yet to be optimized. This is the opportunity for us to realize it," he added.
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Translator: M Razi Rahman, Sri Haryati
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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