US eyes improving trade

KARACHI: US government is focusing on improving trade with Pakistan much like its other assistances to the country, said an envoy on Tuesday.
Brian Heath, US Consul General Karachi, said trade relation with Pakistan is important and a part of the strategic dialogue.
“US is providing assistances to Pakistan for many many years now,” Heath said, addressing a launching ceremony of ‘Aquaculture Handbook—Fish Farming and Nutrition in Pakistan’.
Referring to the USDA-funded project of ‘FEEDing Pakistan’, aiming to foster aquaculture in Pakistan, he said it is the recent example of US assistances to create business opportunities for and raise income level of people in the country.
“The project is very close to the other US commitments…and to ensure food security of the nation,” Heath said.
“Why are we interested because agriculture sector has a huge potential.”
The handbook will give enhance knowledge about fish farming, he said, hoping the knowledge transfer will improve yields.
Jam Khan Shoro, Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries lamented the low fish production despite that the province is blessed with great resources, such as aquaculture-friendly environment.
“I hope the fisheries sector will account for five percent of GDP as against the current one percent,” he said. “The benefits of the USDA project are to flow to fishing community.”
Shoro said the fisheries exports are not impressive. Export earnings from the sector grew an average 12 percent/year to $367m in FY14 from $213m in FY08.
The country annually produces 650,000 metric tons of fisheries products. Of that, 465,000mt are from marine and 185,000mt from fresh water, said an estimate by the World Initiative For Soy in Human Health (WISHH).
A reason for low production, the minister said is overuse of undersized fish as feed in the fisheries and poultry sector. “I will convince fish farmers to use soy feed to avert losses to the sector.
FEEDing Pakistan introduced new fish species, tilapia, in 2011 to improve capacity, productivity and quality in inland aquaculture sector on soy-based extruded feed.
This feed is said to increase per acre yield to staggering six tons from one ton at the beginning of the project.
The project assisted around 2,000 fish farmers and helped them increase the market value of tilapia from zero in 2012 to an estimated Rs450 million ($4.5 million) in 2014, a WISHH factsheet showed.
RSN Janujua, country representative of WISHH, a program of American Soybean Association, said tilapia is not sensitive to water salinity and resistant to diseases and it can improve protein deficiencies in Pakistani consumers.
US agri-scientist Dr Kevin Fitzsimmons shared with the participants, comprising fish farmers, other reasons of growing tilapia.
“We need to produce more foods and be more efficient to meet the food need of growing population,” he said. “There is a huge potential to grow fisheries in Pakistan.”