Abdulla Naseer

Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture ,

Maldives
 Chain of very small islands in the Indian
Ocean
 1200 small coral islands
 Combined land area of all islands: 300 sq km
 About 200 islands are inhabited
 Approximately 150 islands developed for
tourism and other industries
 35 Islands are leased for commercial farming
 Remaining islands are used mainly for
agriculture and fishery related activities
 Smallest inhabited island: 4 ha (fishing
community)
 Largest inhabited island: 500 ha (farming
community)
 Population: 320,000
 Under 18 : 100,000
 Old age +65: 15,000
 GDP (2010): 906 million US$
 Per capita GDP: 2,834 US$
 Fisheries and Agriculture contribution: 5%
 A third of the population (100,000) lives in
Male’
 75 islands = <500 people
 105 islands = 500 – 2000 population
 12 islands = 2000 – 5000
 3 islands = 5000 – 10000
 1 island = 10000 plus
 Tuna Fishing: over 100,000 MT of fish landed
annually
 Over 1000 tuna pole and line boats
 Fishing method utilizes a high workforce by
design – other methods banned
 Fish processing by small holder fishers
 10,000 to 15,000 fishermen and small holder
processors
 Women participation high in fish processing
 These are key to the income distribution
poverty alleviation in rural fisher
communities
 Fishing boats employ a complex traditional
system of sharing the catch
 A good catch means everyone benefits
 Usually the boat owner gets a larger share
 Pole and line method maintains a large
fishing population
 Small holder fishers
 Mostly women involved
 Home kitchen
 Dry and packaging
 Large sector in reduction of poverty
 Currently affected by commercial operators
 No taxation or royalties levied from small
holder fish processors
 These concessions to small holders are
sometimes abused by larger middlemen
affecting small holder activities
 Small holder fishers are at risk of losing
advantages to such activities
 In the past 3 decades the fisheries sector has
developed with much concessions
 Loans have been provided for boats and
engines consistently
 The sector has grown constantly under
government inputs in the form of boat
building, freezing and canning facilities
 Exemption of duties for imports of materials
and equipment
 Investments in fish purchasing centers
 Fisheries developed fast with open access
 Policy shifts now to management and
sustainability
 Loans have moved from Government to
Banks
 Local market development
 Development of Urbanized Islands and
privatization.
 Health and education developed at these
centers
 Agriculture crops: water melons, bananas,
taro, leafy vegetables, pumpkins,
 Mangoes, breadfruit, coconut products
 Most fruits and vegetables are imported.
 Farming done on small plots of land: average
size: 5-10,000 sq ft
 Poor soil and heavy use of fertilizers
 Traditional methods
 Since the tsunami agriculture production has
increased notably
 Agri inputs were provided to all tsunami
affected island
 Training programs were conducted
 Many projects were launched with
FAO, IFAD, ADB, WB assistance amongst
many others.
 Few of these are ongoing 5 years on
 Fishing the dominant sector has stabilized at a
100,00 MTs
 Agriculture output is increasing and much effort
need to be put in to develop agriculture.
 Process of overall development has shrunk the
agriculture sectors.
 The contribution to GDP from fisheries and
agriculture has declined with tourism
development
 Agriculture has the potential to expand in terms
poverty alleviation and GDP contribution
 Growth of island economies are largely
related to fishing and farming in most islands
 Backyard gardens/farming very important for
income generation
 Market accessibility is the main constraint
 Very few established markets
 Housing, health and education are strongly
related to the agriculture sectors - fishing
 Tourism started in the early 70’s
 Fishing was the dominant economic activity
then
 Since then revenue from Tourism has taken
over Agriculture sectors.
 Tourism created many jobs but not for small
farmers and fishers
 Tourism was also to create new markets for
local produce
 Conflicts between fishers and tourism
industry
 Tourism related bans of fish species
 The one island one resort concept
 Resorts grow their own fruits and vegetables
 Resorts also operate their own fishing boats
 Overall loss of income for communities
 Loss of farms and fishing seem to be the
norm with economic diversification on islands
 3 of the most developed islands now do little
farming or fishing
 Urban development paves the way for
competition for land
 Activities such as construction and other
industries quickly take over
 Specialized rural farmer and fisher communities
exist and they are very successful in overall
development of the island
 One island where water melons are the key crop
grow amongst few others.
 Islands where only a certain type of fishery is
practiced: eg lobster fishing.
 Many advantages of this type of specializations.
 Becomes the driving force for overall
development of health, education and housing
 Under the decentralization law new island
councils will be elected in the next few
months.
 The new decentralized administration will
have profound effects on agriculture
development
 Assistance need to be provided for the
councils to manage agriculture
 Ways to overcome constraints to markets
and trading
 Cooperatives and community based
producer organizations
 Met with skepticism and limited successes
 Overall a very difficult concept to sell for
small holder fishers and farmers
 Training
 Laws and regulations
 Community based efforts
 Promoting Integrated approaches
 NGO involvement – new concepts
 Training centers being developed
 Linkages between commercial operators and
small holder farmers
 Supply contracts
 No agriculture law
 Agriculture related laws are now being
drafted with assistance from FAO
 Fisheries Law is under review
 Agriculture related Land issues are difficult to
be address due to lack of legislation
 Training and skills development
 Sustainable fisheries management
 Quality assurance
 Value chain development –