India to Host UN meet on Aquaculture

India, the second largest aquaculture producer, will host a major UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) meet on fish farming here from Monday attended by representatives from 50 nations.
The third meeting of the FAO Sub-Committee on Aquaculture will discuss a wide range of issues, including aquaculture's contribution to fighting hunger and poverty, ways to minimise environmental impact of fish farming and options for expanding production in the developing world.
India's Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar and Director of FAO's Fishery Resources Division, Serge Garcia, will inaugurate the five-day meet, where the results of a major new FAO report 'The State of World Aquaculture 2006' would be released.
Currently, world aquaculture production is valued at $63 billion a year. Statistics from the UN food agency show that China is the world's largest aquaculture producer followed by India.
FAO established the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture in 2001 to promote international discussions on the future development of aquaculture.
It brings countries together every two years to share information, discuss policy issues related to aquaculture and make recommendations to FAO regarding the agency's work on fish farming.
International trade in fish products (both captured and farmed) is worth over $71 billion annually, with some 77 percent of fish consumed worldwide being supplied by developing countries.
Indeed, the annual net income of developing countries from this trade runs in more than $20 billion, more than their earnings from any other food commodity, including coffee and tea, states FAO.
 
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