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Freshwater fish promoted to solve Nuwara Eliya District’s nutrition crisis
A programme to vigorously promote inland fisheries in the Nuwara Eliya District has been launched as part of urgent measures to address concerns about the nutritional status of women and children in the area.
At the workshop, Summer House Chef Mohan Das at work as Freshwater Fisheries Development Authority officials and other participants look on
This comes after the District recorded the highest levels of stunting of children in the Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey. According to the survey, 32 percent of the district’s children are affected by stunting. The second highest level of 26 percent was recorded from the Kandy District, while the lowest prevalence of stunting was observed in the Polonnaruwa District (11 percent), followed by the Puttalam and Hambantota Districts (12 percent each).
The programme worked out by the Freshwater Fisheries Development Authority (FFDA) was launched last week at a workshop in Kande Ella. Held in collaboration with the Department of Forest Conservation, the workshop aimed to make inland fishing more affordable to the people, especially to the estate sector families, and also to make the people aware of the high protein and nutritional value of freshwater fish.
Attending the launch were chefs from the district’s hotels and restaurants. They demonstrated how to make tasty dishes from fresh water fish, as part of their contribution to spread the message on the nutritional value of freshwater fish.
About 45 reservoirs, including hydropower reservoirs, and lakes in the Hill Country have been identified to implement the project and produce the required harvest to meet the demand in the region where sea fish is scarce and expensive.
The workshop was also attended by the divisional secretaries and the district’s public officers.