IFTM: CENTER FOR AQUACULTURE AND FISHERIES

At the same Complex at which the UFTM is installed, in the UNESCO CITY OF WATERS, in Frutal, another partnership is being undertaken with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) and HydroEX. The Triângulo Mineiro Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology – which is also headquartered in Uberaba – intend to establish there in Uberaba the Aquaculture and Fishing Center to serve the Central Brazil region. For this purpose the MCT has already made available resources to the order of R$ 8.5 million, with R$ 6 million for construction of the project and R$ 2.5 million for other costs. This resource was made feasible through the actions of Federal Congressman Narcio Rodrigues.
The IFTM covers 82 municipalities in Minas Gerais (divided into seven Campuses and another nine distance learning centers), with extensive experience in teaching professionalization courses and material, in addition to offering graduate and post-graduate courses, among which is the Environmental Management Technology course. The IFTM is linked to the Ministry of Education, which maintains a network of these institutes throughout Brazil.
The IFTM campus, which is being built in the UNESCO CITY OF WATERS, will benefit from all the infrastructure and technical staff that the Institution maintains on its Campuses in the region. In Frutal, the project of Capacity Building, Development and Implantation of the Aquaculture and Fishing Training Center, was created to promote the sustainable development of fish farming, an economic activity that is growing in various regions throughout Brazil, as productive activity that offers new opportunities for income generation for small rural producers. With this project, the IFTM intends to also help guarantee access by small producers to a food source with a high nutritional value, reconciling these activities with the correct use of water.
As an immediate goal, the IFET Training Center in the UNESCO CITY OF WATERS intends to qualify or re-qualify 400 workers and entrepreneurs in the aquaculture sector and related sectors with the offer of 11 courses by December 2010 and also the graduation of 66 technicians of high school and graduate level with the offer of 10 courses by December 2010.