New technologies are helping Indonesia tap into its huge potential in aquaculture and cement its position as one of the world’s top aquaculture nations.
Indonesia’s aquaculture sector has enjoyed strong growth over the past decade and the country’s 6.2 million metric tonnes in 2017 placed it behind only China and India in terms of output.
While marine capture fisheries production grew around 34 percent from 2008 to 2017, growth in Indonesia’s aquaculture sector exploded by 264 percent during the same period according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Around 3.3 million people are directly employed in Indonesia’s aquaculture industry, but 80 percent of all fish producers and 70 percent of all shrimp producers are smallholders who use manual methods, highlighting the sector’s massive promise.
Aquaculture is expected to provide close to two-thirds of global food fish consumption by 2030, and ensuring that effective technology tools such as data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are in place will help maintain the industry’s sustainability and continued growth.
Although Indonesia has about 26 million hectares of coastal land which is suitable for aquaculture expansion, much of it includes ecologically sensitive mangrove and coral reef habitats.
Apart from having high biodiversity value and playing a vital role in climate change resilience, these coastal lands provide critical ecosystem services that are the foundation of economic sectors such as fisheries and tourism. The greatest economic returns are likely to be achieved through the implementation of more productive processes on existing farms as opposed to launching new ones.
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