Jakarta, Nov 19 (Antara) - The people are advised to eat more fish, as part of the efforts to increase their nutritional and protein intake, improve their health, bring progress to the fisheries sector and reduce beef imports.
The Industry Ministry encouraged increased consumption of fish in various regions to raise domestic demand for fish, in an effort to boost the maritime and fisheries sector.
"We will boost fish consumption, apart from exports, through developing the traditional fish industry, which would increase the demand in the country's fisheries sector," Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said last week.
Besides that, consuming fish could also reduce dependence on beef imports. Deputy Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Mahyudin called on the government to encourage fish consumption through various policies by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP). Raising fish consumption would reduce dependence on meat imports.
"The price of beef during the recent Eid Adha festivities was recorded at Rp150 thousand per kilogram, while the price of tongkol (a kind of tuna) fish was only Rp20 thousand per kilogram. But, people still prefer beef because they are too much dependent on it," Mahyudin said on Thursday (Nov 17).
The state has to spend a large amount of its foreign exchange for importing beef to meet the domestic needs of the people who also have to spend a lot of money to consume beef.
The government had better launch campaigns on eating fish, because Indonesia has a large potential to produce fish, and the price of fish is also relatively low. It is relatively within the financial reach of the people.
According to Mahyudin, the people would be able to purchase fish, and the government would not need to spend foreign exchange to procure beef. He is of the view that the potential of beef production in Indonesia is low. It is far from the potential to produce fish by the fisheries sector in Indonesia.
Hartarto said that efforts to increase consumption of fisheries products in various regions are in line with the development in the maritime and fisheries sector, which is expected to raise domestic demands for the commodity.
"We are also encouraging traditional industry production, which boosts demand for fisheries products at home," he said.
He also said that his ministry would encourage the people to increase fish consumption.
Slamet Soebjakto, Director General for Cultured Fish of the KKP Ministry, urged the people to increase the sources of their protein intake by eating more fish. "Currently, there are about 800 million people who suffer from malnutrition. They need cheap sources of protein but with high nutrition. This could be met by fish," he said.
He pointed out that it was reasonable for the government and businesses to give more attention to the development of cultured fish. After all, the world population is expected to reach 9 billion by the year of 2050. It is a great challenge for the world food development.
In the meantime, Head of the Marketing Section of the Fisheries Service of Tangerang District, Banten, Arief Faisal said that the per capita fish consumption of the people in Tangerang now was about 27.12 kilogram, lower than the target of 29 kilogram per capita per annum.
In order to increase the fish consumption level, the government should continue to launch a campaign regarding the benefits of eating fish. Fish contain Omega 3 and Vitamin E, with protein content reaching some 20 to 30 percent, he said.
Indonesia's per capita fish consumption has, in fact, increased as compared to 29.08 kilograms in 2009 and 30.47 kilograms per annum recorded in 2010. Therefore, the people's fish consumption still has to be increased as it is good for the growth of the brain.
Based on the report of the KKP in 2015, people's fish consumption was only about 41.11 kg per capita per year. The government has targeted that each family member should consume 43.88 kilograms of fish per annum.
Consuming fish can also reduce the mortality rate among mothers and babies during labor. Therefore, the people must be encouraged to eat fish as it would improve their health and nutritional intake.
About 65 percent of the protein needs could be supplied by fish. Meeting nutritional needs is a serious problem, which is apparent by the fact that the average height of the people in the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is 174 centimeters while that in Indonesia is only about 158 centimeters.
The growth of brain cells is supported by protein, which comes from different sources such as fish. Fish contains Omega3 for brain growth.
The average IQ level of the ASEAN people is 93 while that of Indonesia is only 89. This problem must be overcome, and the situation should be improved by increasing fish consumption.
It was earlier reported that the Indonesian government had been giving priority to increase the fisheries production by relaxing regulations for fishermen and local industries. The move is meant to support these sustainable industries in the development of the national fisheries sector and maintain seafood sovereignty.
As part of the efforts to boost fish production, the government, though the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), had earlier built 15 Integrated Fisheries and Marine Resource Development Centers (SKPT) in various regions in the country. The aim of the SKPT is to boost fishery exports directly from the center without the need to go to Jakarta.
The SKPT aims to maintain food resilience, increase fish consumption, foreign exchange earnings through exports, and raise the income of the people.
Five of the SKPT are located in Simeullue (Aceh), Natuna (Riau Islands), Tahuna (North Sulawesi), Saumlaki (Maluku) and Merauke (Papua).
Ten others are also built in Mentawai Island (West Sumatera), Nunukan (North Kalimantan), Talaud (North Sulawesi), Morotai (North Maluku), Biak-Numfor (West Papua), Sarmi (Papua), Mimika (Papua), Tual (Maluku), Rote Ndao (East Nusa Tenggara/NTT), and Maluku Barat Daya (Maluku). ***1***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 19 |
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