The Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Limited (MIFCO) has announced that it has begun selling ice to fishermen in Kanduoihgiri.
According to MIFCO, the ice plant has a production capacity of 25 tonnes of ice per day and was established to address the challenges fishermen in the region face in obtaining ice.
As part of efforts to expand and strengthen MIFCO's operations in Kanduoih-giri, the company also opened its dried fish processing facility on the island earlier this month.
MIFCO said the facility has the capacity to process three tonnes of fish per day. In addition to receiving raw fish and preparing cooked fish products, the facility will also carry out fish flake production and packaging.
The company said its objective is to further expand operations in Kanduoih-giri. MIFCO added that operations on the island will be expanded further in the future with additional facilities.
To address difficulties faced by fishermen in accessing ice, the Government is also continuing efforts to establish ice plants in different parts of the country.
In addition to the ice plants, the Government is establishing cold storage facilities across the Maldives. The country's current cold storage capacity stands at 9,500 metric tonnes, and the Government aims to increase this to 25,000 tonnes.
Work is currently underway to establish cold storage facilities on four islands as part of that effort.