Projections for 2029

by Petter Johanneseen, Director General, IFFO

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) jointly released in mid-July 2020 their projections for 2029. Future growth in fish production is welcomed to feed a growing population with nutritious proteins.
 

The aquaculture sector will be more than ever needed: the FAO expects that “intensification, expansion into new spaces and innovative technologies for land-based and offshore farms are expected to be the main drivers of growth”. The FAO adds that “demand for fish also depends on trends observed in the animal protein sector. For example, the current African Swine Fever situation in China's pork production is leading to increased fish consumption.”

Digitalisation will also accompany the developments of the food production system and fantastic progress has already been achieved to monitor the farms, check on water quality and feed consumption on a 24-hour basis. Increased efforts to ensure full traceability on operations is even more welcomed after the COVID-19 outbreak, which revealed the weaknesses of supply chains in all sectors of the economy, throughout the world.

Blockchain technologies are being studied as an efficient means to tackle friction points and blind spots. One of them that has been identified by MarinTrust, the third-party standard for marine ingredients, is the missing link between the fishmeal sector and the direct human consumption sector. Hoping that the blockchain technology can be the bridge to link activities that today remain in silos, MarinTrust has announced that they will include, in the new version of their Chain of Custody standard, a new clause related to traceability of products back to their origins. This new version of the MarinTrust Chain of Custody should be operational in October 2020.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

---