Accelerate Food Swasembada Target, KKP-FAO Develops Fish Disease Control Digitization Application

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) together with the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have succeeded in developing an application to control fish diseases for the Fast Reporting System for Fish Diseases (Sicekatan).

Director General of Fisheries Budi Daya KKP Tb Haeru Rahayu assessed that the Sicekatan Application was part of the TCP/INS/3903 Cooperation Program which was held from mid-2023 to early 2025.

He said the two-year TCP/INS/3903 project was very important in implementing one of the KKP policies, namely the development of aquaculture in the sea, coastal and land, which is sustainable based on the blue economy.

"This cooperation project strongly supports the cultivation fisheries sub-sector which is one of the backbones of accelerating the target of food self-sufficiency and national food security," Tebe said as quoted from the KKP official website, Thursday, March 20.

Tebe emphasized that the blue economy program of the Minister of KP Sakti Wahyu Trenggono succeeded in increasing the production of fish cultivated throughout 2024 by 13.64 percent from the previous year.

The challenges in the production of self-cultural fisheries include attacks of diseases that infect fish in the form of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites.

According to Tebe, this collaboration with FAO is very helpful in increasing preparedness to control fish diseases through improving the emergency response system for fish disease outbreaks in Indonesia.

The three outputs of the TCP/INS/3903 cooperation project are an increase in risk assessment capacity to minimize the risk of entry and spread of fish diseases.

Then, strengthen the capacity of the Fish Health Service Post and Integrated Environment (POSIKANDU) as well as improve skills and knowledge in planning emergency response to fish diseases.

Meanwhile, Director of Marine Water Fish, Directorate General of Fisheries, Budi Daya KKP, Tinggal Hermawan, said that one of the achievements of the collaboration was the development of a web version of the SSMPI application information system and also the Mobile version of the Sicekatan application.

"The application is expected to be accessed in the second week of April 2025," he said.

Through the Sicekatan application, he said, fish cultivators can report symptoms and documentation of fish diseases more easily and get treatment advice quickly and precisely from the emergency response task force for fish diseases.

If necessary, the system also involves laboratory testing to provide more specific handling solutions.

Meanwhile, the Head of FAO Representatives in Indonesia and Timor Leste Rajendra Aryal stated that previously the SMS-based disease warning system, data from fish cultivators regarding fishing disease events were very limited.

Through the support of this cooperation project, the Sicekatan system has been optimized into an Android-based system that is more accessible and practical and equipped with more information as well as an interactive menu.

"That way, it is hoped that coordination in handling fish diseases by the task force can be faster," he concluded.