ElShaddai has never stopped working even in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2020, the fish project was launched right after the first round of Movement Control Order (MCO) was lifted. While the situation was still very challenging and the economy greatly impacted, we persisted on getting the project started.
The purpose of this project is to embark on a sustainable business that will generate funds for our ministries and also a place for our staff to gain valuable experiences in fish rearing. We aim to cultivate a livelihood skill to sustain the marginalised community that we are working with.
We have a volunteer brother who is our key mentor for this fish project. He gives us his expertise advice on the overall project. We are also grateful to have a dedicated team consisting of locals and foreigners who are committed to seeing the success of this project.
Even during the second Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) period, work still went on. We rear Patin fish, which takes around 9-10 months to mature before they can be harvested. We are thankful that the fish-rearing work is still going strong. We started with only 2 tanks in August 2020 and added another 2 tanks one month later. Our goal is to have 12 tanks eventually so that we will have enough fish to supply throughout the year.
The fish are reared in a PVC tank, 10 feet in diameter and 4.5 feet high, that holds about 8 tonnes of water. Each tank can contain up to 600-800 fish. We started with the Patin fries each of about 4 inches long. It will take about 9 months to reach an ideal weight of 1 kg before we can sell them. We use good high protein feed from CPR / Dinding feed factory.
We are expecting the first harvest of fresh and healthy Patin in the coming month of March or April. We are now working on our marketing strategy to promote the fish online through our website and social media platforms.
We hope this project will be a success that will result in rearing more fish for more income, and eventually we can develop this project into a full business venture. Self-sustainability is what we aim for ElShaddai ministry and also for the displaced marginalised communities.
We are expecting the first harvest of fresh and healthy Patin in the coming month of March or April 2021. We are currently working on our marketing strategy to promote the fish online through our website and social media platforms. Do look out for our exciting promotion package which will be published soon before the Chinese New Year!
We hope this project will be a successful that we will able to produce more fishes, and that we can promote our fish into business venture. Self-sustainability is what we aim for ElShaddai and also for the displaced marginalised community.
