Riyadh: Naqua, Saudi Arabia’s largest agriculture company, plans to farm and catch 250,000 tons of fish a year by 2030.
“That is our responsibility to increase or achieve the government’s target, which is 250,000 by 2030,” Naqua’s Khalid Al-Ballaa, told Arab News in an interview.
“We have high ambitions to achieve this goal,” he added.
Naqua currently produces 60,000 tons of fish a year, and exports to 32 countries around the world.
To hit its new target, Naqua plans to expand its production in new types of fish such as tilapia and other products, in addition to its mainstays of shrimp and barramundi, Al-Ballaa said at SIMEC on Sunday.
Naqua faces challenges in fish farming since it is less popular than other types of livestock and takes longer to rear.
“Growing it is also a challenge because for example our main fish barramundi we grow for a year and a half, but a chicken can be reared within 30 days” Al-Ballaa added.
