Starfruit (malangkota.go.id) – In order to increase fish consumption in Malang City and to commemorate National Fish Day (Harkannas) 2023, the Malang City Government (Pemkot) through the Malang City Food Security and Agriculture Service (Dispangtan) held a Campaign to Promote the Movement to Eat Fish (Gemarikan) at the Grand Mercure Malang Mirama Hotel, Friday (17/11/2023).
Head of the Malang City Agriculture and Food Security Agency, Slamet Husnan Hariyadi, SP said that this activity was held as an effort to campaign for a program to enjoy consuming fish as a healthy source of protein and to increase consumption equality for the community.
"The hope is that through this activity, knowledge related to fish nutrition for health can be increased, which will later affect the Fish Consumption Rate (AKI). In addition, it is also to realize zero stunting in Malang City," explained Slamet.
Regarding the fish consumption figures, Slamet revealed that Malang City continues to reflect a positive trend every year. Starting in 2020, the level of fish consumption has continued to rise from 36,14 then increased in 2021 to 45,75 and finally in 2022 the figure was 55,95 percent.
In terms of achievement rankings throughout East Java Province, Malang City also continues to climb from 16th place in 2021, then rose to ninth place in 2022. With this achievement, Slamet hopes that the level of fish consumption in Malang City will continue to increase in 2023. "Hopefully in 2023 the level of fish consumption in Malang City can reach 60 percent and rise to sixth or fifth place out of all regencies/cities in East Java Province," he said.
In order to support this, Slamet explained that there were several interventions carried out by the Malang City Government in maintaining the availability of fish in the community. As is known, the potential for fisheries in Malang City currently still depends on fish products from Malang Regency. Therefore, as an alternative, the Malang City Government also created several programs such as fish cultivation in buckets (Budikdamber), as well as cultivation carried out at the Fish Seed Center.
"Until the end of this year, the Fish Seed Center can supply the needs of fish farming groups in five sub-districts. Every month we provide almost 10.000 fish seeds, because each group can request up to 1.500-2.000 fish seeds, especially catfish and tilapia," he added.
Meanwhile, the Acting Chairperson of the Malang City PKK TP who is also the Acting Chairperson of the Malang City Forikan, Dra. Hj. Hanik Andriani Wahyu Hidayat said that the geographical location of the Malang City area which does not directly border the sea means that fish consumption has not yet become a culture in society.
This is a challenge in itself in educating the public to enjoy consuming fish, both fresh fish and processed fishery products. Moreover, fish is one source of protein that is useful for fulfilling the nutritional needs of the community which has various advantages of essential nutritional sources. "If fish consumption increases, then nutritional fulfillment can be met. Where one of the indicators is a decrease in stunting rates," he added.
Regarding stunting, Hanik said that stunting is caused by a lack of nutritional intake over a long period of time, even starting from pregnancy. One source of protein that is widely available at a fairly affordable price in the community is fish.
"Therefore, it is hoped that the Gemarikan program can have a positive impact on fisheries and maritime actors so that it also affects the level of fish consumption which is one way to help prevent stunting," he explained again.
The participants of the activity consisting of 350 people who are families at risk of stunting from five sub-districts in Malang City were given material on the importance of fulfilling nutrition through fish consumption given by resource person Mariam Razak STP, M.Si, who is an academic from the nutrition department of the Malang Health Polytechnic. In addition, the participants also received processed fish products such as chicken fillets, smoked salmon, frozen tuna, catfish floss nuggets, and tuna tofu. (iu/yon)
