Weekly meetings of the Minister of Agriculture, Environment, Fisheries, Tourism and Handicrafts

On Monday, November 29, 2021, as part of the monitoring of the activities of his department, Minister Houmed Msaïdié met with three departments. These are the General Directorate of Agricultural Strategies, the General Directorate of Environment and Forests and the General Directorate of the National Institute of Research on Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment. Each department was composed of the Director General, the heads of departments and the heads of projects.

General Directorate of Agricultural and Livestock Strategies

There was a discussion on the delay in the allocation of allowances for the winners of the Business Plan Competition "CPA". The Minister found such a situation incomprehensible. The IPDC project officials in charge of this component replied that this situation is due to a delay in the review of the release of funds but that this situation will be unblocked by next week.

Concerning the rural tracks, the Minister considered that the quantity of tracks taken into account in the present project does not reflect very well the will of the authorities in relation to the questions of opening up the rural areas. He asked that this be taken into account in future projects.

In addition, the Minister reminded the officials of this department the idea of organizing a National Food Day. The department confirmed to have taken good note in their breading.

General Directorate of Environment and Forests

While receiving the officials of this department, the Minister returned to the materialization of the slogan: "One Comorian, one tree". He asked to have information on the work that is carried out by the different projects to achieve the expected result. The Director General of the Environment recalled that one of the key components of the project "Water and Resilience to Climate Change, ER2C" concerns reforestation. However, it appeared that there is a lack of a document that harmonizes the various interventions in this sector, even if it appeared during the discussions the existence of documents such as the forest policy, a national strategy on reforestation and which deserves to be reviewed.

Regarding the work of the National Agency on waste management, the director of the agency made an overview of the work that is currently conducted including service providers at the level of waste collection in all islands. During the discussions, the Minister asked the Agency to review its terms of reference because in his opinion, it is not in the vocation of the agency to go sweep in all corners of the country but to provide support at the level of structures such as municipalities so that they are able to take over these activities.

At the level of Inrape, the director gave an overview of the issue of laboratories, the status of staff and fees.

Regarding the question of laboratories, the director spoke about the three laboratories that have been planned and whose process is underway. These are the laboratory of cash crops, the laboratory of food and the laboratory of in vitro cultures. He made a tour of the difficulties encountered and the solutions recommended to move forward on this file.

On the issue of the staff status, a draft has been made and a lawyer must finalize this document.

The Minister asked for the rapid drafting of the note in council by next Monday at the latest.

On the issue of royalties, the Minister considered that there is a need to have a meeting with the partners to clarify the points of view of all parties on this issue.

It was also proposed that a national meeting be held in Anjouan to discuss all aspects related to the issue of royalties and other points of common interest.

General Directorate of Fisheries Resources.

This Tuesday morning, November 30, the Minister met with the National Directorate of Fisheries Resources. On the agenda of the discussions, the next dialogue with the European Union, the issue of aquaculture, on FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) and various other issues.

From the outset, the Minister showed the availability of the authorities to sign an agreement with the EU in the field of fisheries.

Discussions focused on the possibility of setting up a project on aquaculture in order to expand the range of products from fisheries. In addition, the Directorate of Fisheries was asked to conduct a study on the potential in this sector, including fishing in mangrove areas. In addition, it was pointed out that external partners would be interested in investing in octopus fishing.

Concerning the installation of FADs, the Directorate of Fisheries has indicated that its role is currently reduced in the supervision of cooperatives and private individuals and this only concerns the installation of FADs known as "low cost".

The issue of the management was discussed and the Minister asked the management to take out this file and submit it to the government. He also asked for the launch of a study on the potential of lobster fishing as an export opportunity in the sector.

General Directorate of Tourism and Handicrafts

In the afternoon the Minister received the General Directorate of Tourism where several topics were discussed such as the monitoring of the Galawa hotel and the site of Maloudja, the next Tourism Fair in May, the monitoring of the earthworks in the locality of Nkourani ya Sima for the construction of an ecotourism lodge without forgetting, of course, the monitoring of the Dubai Expo 2020.

The management has also requested the support of the Ministry to have a headquarters insofar as the staff is currently a little cramped.

30/11/2021