COLOMBIA: Subsidies to aquaculture, contingent on export

Aquaculture seems to be spared (at least from now) from new disciplines on subsidies to fisheries.

Fish farming has become, over the years, an important source of supply of fish products. This is the case in developed countries (e.g. Norway) and in developing economies (e.g. China, Chile, Vietnam, etc). The growth in this industry is such that we could witness very soon aquaculture overtaking capture  fisheries in terms of supply of fish products for human consumption.

Some countries do realize the key importance of this sector and are providing financial help to fish farmers. A few days ago I stumbled upon a Colombian scheme whereby fish farmers involved in the production of shrimp, tilapia and trout receive subsidies for “inputs”, on condition that they export their produce.

According to the information posted in the website of Colombia’s  “Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural” the programme is funded with COP Colombian Peso 5,000 million (USD 2.8 million).

Here is the link to the aforementioned website (in Spanish) announcing the scheme:

http://www.minagricultura.gov.co/07presupuesto/07a_cin_acuicul.aspx

And here the link to the full text of the scheme:

http://www.acuiculturaldia.com/Documentos/reglamento_tecnico_iae_mayo21_2010.pdf