Launch of a twinning project to strengthen aquaculture

A twinning project between Morocco and the European Union (EU) was launched on Wednesday in Rabat, with a view to strengthening the aquaculture sector in the Kingdom.

Registered under the EU-funded “Succeeding Advanced Status” (RSA II) multi-sector cooperation program, this institutional twinning project aims to support the efforts of the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture (ANDA ) in supporting the installation of aquaculture projects and providing operators in this sector with practical tools for good management and management of farms, while adopting a biosecurity approach.

Speaking on this occasion, the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohamed Sadiki, noted that this project is part of a national context marked by the initiation of several productive investment projects in marine aquaculture and a strong mobilization of actors and stakeholders for the development of a sustainable and competitive aquaculture sector.

“For a period of 8 months, he said, this twinning is funded by the EU to the tune of 250,000 euros and will be implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Sea in France and managed with the support of the Directorate of Treasury and External Finance of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Morocco”.

For her part, the EU Ambassador to Morocco, Patricia Llombart Cussac, highlighted the importance of this partnership which will allow the creation of more than 4,000 direct jobs in addition to indirect jobs in the aquaculture sector, which, according to her, constitutes “an innovative sector” which can greatly contribute to the growth of the country, in addition to having a direct impact on fishermen.

In the same vein, the French Ambassador to Morocco, Hélène Le Gal, noted that this twinning project with France will be of great support in terms of developing good practices in the aquaculture sector and will accompany the action launched by ANDA, aimed at providing private players in the sector with relevant and essential instruments for their positioning on the chessboard of responsible aquaculture producers.

In this context, a team of French experts will be mobilized to build the capacities of institutional actors and private actors on the aspects of biosecurity, good aquaculture practices and approaches to labeling national aquaculture products.