JAMBI CATFISH BREEDERS IN GLOOMY CONDITION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 17 (ANTARA) - Once enjoying a booming income, most of patin catfish (pangasius sp) breeders in Tangkit Baru  village, Muarojambi district, Jambi province, have abandoned their ponds because fish breeding is no longer promising.          After all, most of the breeders have often suffered losses as prices of fish meals continue to increase.          "I think patin catfish breeding business is now in the stage of NDE (near-death experience)  experience. More than 60 percent of the 1,400 fish ponds of various sizes in this village are now idle as they are abandoned  by their owners," Bs Intang, a villager who cultivates 8 plots of ponds, said.          As many fish breeders stopped cultivating their ponds,  the catfish production of Tangkit Baru,  a catfish producing village in Muarojambi district, has dropped drastically. "We used to produce some 10 tons catfish per day. But now, I think production is only about one to two tons per day," Bs Intang said.          In response to the present conditions breeders are divided to two pessimistic and optimistic groups. "We simply have to change business. There is no more hope. The trend is that production cost continues to  increase while profit margin continue to drop. If you don't stop you will loose," Abdullatif, another breeder whose ponds were affected by a flood recently, said.          Others switch to other kind of fish. "I stop cultivating patin fish for the time being. I now breed 'gurame' fish which still a has good prospect. But we must be patient because we have to wait for about one year before it could be harvested," Harun, who is planning to increase the number of his ponds to 20 plots, said.          According to Bs Intang, most of breeders who could  survive in running fish ponds are those who produce their own fish meals. "They basically get profit from the fish foods they are producing," Intang said.          Owing to the fact that production cost is higher than the yield, the fish production of Tangkit Baru dropped from about 10 tons per day to only one to two tons. Tangkit Baru village is only one of the catfish production centers in Muarojambi district. Jambi province has been declared as one of national catfish production centers.       Unluckily, Muarojambi's proction has dropped of late.  Head of Muarojambi's Animal Husbandry and Fishery Service, Mulyadi said recently Muarojambi in the past several years produced some 40 tons of catfish per day but it had dropped now because breeders could not market their products.         When production was booming, market could not absorb it while production cost was increasing. "So, what to do with the fish," Mulyadi said.          In an effort to help fish breeders, Jamb's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service (DKP) is doing its best to increase the quality of patin catfish so that it would be able to compete in the market. So far, catfish production in Jambi is still marketed in the form fresh fish in traditional market.         While modern market still give priority to processed fish produced by large scale industry at home and abroad.         Head of Jambi's DKP Herman Suheraman said that there had been processed fish production by home industry in Jambi but it could not yet compete in the modern market.         "There are three kinds of processed patin fish products which are the output of cottage industry in Jambi, namely patin 'abon' (boiled and fried shredded catfish meat), patin chips and patin jelly," Herman said.          He said that the catfish cottage industry which was centered in Tangkit Baru village was not yet able to penetrate supermakets. There fore, the DKP  would continue to develop the catfish home industry so that the three diversified processed products would be able to compete with those of large scale industry.          Herman said that the rapid growth of patin culture, both by pond and floating cage systems, caused over production and drove price down. So, one of the way that could be taken to safeguard fish farmers and to increase the added value of their products is to process the fish into a semi-finished products which are ready for consumption.          "However, marketing is still a problem, though it is already diversified," Herman said.          He said that the DKP through the trade service continues to approach supermarket owners so that they were prepared to help sell the home made fish products. It has also cooperated with an expert from Thailand in an effort to increase the quality.          "We actually hope that the processed catfish would be marketed in the local market in order to improve the people's nutritional intake," Herman Suherman.          In order to increase the local people's nutritional intake, the DKP is allocating a fund of Rp4.6 billion for the development of patin fish in five districts in Jambi.          Herman said that the funds were obtained from the state budget. "Five districts will become the target of patin fish culture as part of the efforts to improve the welfare of breeders," he said.          In this case,  Maurojambi district which had been appointed one of the patin fish production centers, has prepared 24 thousand hectares for fish culture, patin fish in particular.          "This region has a very high potential vast land to help intensify this project, for which we have prepared 24,000 ha of fishery land,"   Muarojambi district head H Burhanudin Mahir said sometime ago.          Jambi province's fish production increased 6.4 percent to 75.95 thousand tons in 2009 from 70.73 thousand tons in 2008. The increase in production is in line with the increase in the per capita consumption which was up 3.81 percent from 25.97 kg per annum in 2008 to 27. 0 per kg in 2009. ***2*** (T.A014/a/H-NG/a014) 17-10-2010 22:53: