T

he United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is cooperating with PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) to help fishermen around Lake Toba in North Sumatra raise local fish species pora-pora as part of a broader program to reduce poverty in Toba Samosir regency.

M. Khairul Rizal, UNDP regional facilitator for strengthening community-based forest and watershed management, told The Jakarta Post that Lake Toba had great potentials for the development of pora-pora but local fishermen do not have adequate enough skills to raise the species and could not finance the construction of fish cages and infrastructure in the lake.

UNDP would therefore provide technical, marketing and financial assistance to the fishermen, said Rizal.

TPL director Juanda Panjaitan said his company'€™s participation in the fishing project was part of its corporate social responsibility program in Toba Samosir regency.

Jamson Manurung, the leader of a fishermen'€™s group, told the Post that technical and financial assistance had contributed greatly to increasing fish production and consequently fishermen'€™s incomes.