Ensuring Food Security In The Archipelago, KKP Trains Residents To Process Catfish

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) stated that the form of training for residents to process catfish is an effort to maintain and ensure food security in the archipelago.

"We start with ourselves, we start with family. What we are doing today is actually building food security," said Head of Research and Human Resources for Marine and Fisheries (BRSDM) KKP Sjarief Widjaja in a release in Jakarta, Saturday.

He stated that the KKP through the Tegal Fisheries Training and Counseling Center (BPPP) had held training on diversification of catfish processing for as many as 50 fish processors in Blora Regency, Central Java Province, on 1-2 October 2020.

He said, almost all activities experienced obstacles amid the current pandemic. Likewise with production activities. Even so, food is a basic necessity for society that will continue to be needed.

"All of our activities are completely limited, but we all need to eat every day and need side dishes. One of them is fish. So we should provide it," he said.

He said, Indonesia's fish consumption reached 51 kg / person / year. This figure indicates that around 13 million tons of fish / year are needed to meet the protein intake of around 260 million Indonesians.

Therefore, he said, these various trainings are expected to help build food security from the smallest units in the community.

In the catfish processing diversification training, the participants were trained to make a variety of interesting preparations. Some of them are catfish skin crackers, catfish bone crackers, nuggets, and shredded fish.

Sjarief revealed, processing is one way that can be done to extend the storage period of fish. If fresh fish can only be stored for about 6 hours, processed fish products can last up to several months.

Even so, he reminded to always ensure freshness and cleanliness of fish in the production process.

Not stopping here, Sjarief stated that his party would provide further training on catfish cultivation to the public to ensure the sustainability of their processed production.

He said, catfish is one of the fish that has high resistance to various weather and conditions so that it will be easily cultivated by the people of Blora.