The presentation was part of the Brussels Development Briefing on the topic of fish-farming, organized by the Technical Centre for Agriculture (CTA), the European Commission, and the African, Carribean, and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat on 3rd of July 2013 in Brussels.
More on: http://brusselsbriefings.net/
Sloans Chimatiro: Drivers of success in aquaculture across Africa
1. Brussels Development Briefing n.32
Fish-farming the new driver of the blue
economy?
3rd July 2013
http://brusselsbriefings.net
Fish-Farming: The drivers of success for Blue
economy across Africa.
Sloans Chimatiro, NEPAD
2. Fish-Farming: The Drivers of Success
for Blue Economy Across Africa
Sloans Chimatiro
Senior Fisheries Advisor,
NEPAD Agency,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Brussels Policy Briefing no. 32
ACP Secretariat, 3rd July 2013
3. Outline of Presentation
• History of aquaculture in Africa
• Current production
• Challenges and opportunities
• Potential of aquaculture in terms of food and
nutrition security as well as local employment
• Key drivers of successful and lessons for
scaling up
4. History of Aquaculture in Africa
Phase 1: 1950–1970. The introductory phase, during which the sector
was popularized but with limited knowledge and understanding. Most
government stations were built during this era.
Phase 2: 1970–1995. The expansion phase, significant donor
support, active R&D, government involvement in seed supply and
extension. Commercialization of the sector in some countries (e.g.
Nigeria, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, South Africa).
Phase 3: 1995 to present (2006). Reduced donor support, re-
orientation of public support towards facilitation, emergence of the
commercial sector.
Source: Hecht et. Al (2006)
Phase 4: 2005 – present. The Pan-African focus of fisheries and
aquaculture, increased awareness by governments of the
development potential of aquaculture and increased private sector
6. Table 1 Top ten African aquaculture producers in
2010
Country Tonnes Percent
increase
(since 2009)
Percent
increase
(since 2003)
Egypt 919585 71.38 -
Nigeria 200535 15.57 84.70
Uganda 95000 7.37 94.21
Kenya 12154 0.94 91.80
Zambia 10290 0.80 56.26
Ghana 10200 0.79 90.80
Madagascar 6886 0.53 -37.44
Tunisia 5424 0.42 -
Malawi 3163 0.25 78.94
South Africa 3133 0.24 -20.59
Source: FAO (2012)
MALDECO cage farm, Lake Malawi S Chimatiro
7. Challenges as the sector grows
• Increasing the contribution of
aquaculture to food security,
employment and economic
development,
• Meeting the growing demand for capital,
as well as, seed and feeds in terms of
quantities and quality,
• Strengthening the base for aquaculture
management (knowledge and
information, including trade),
• Increasingly severe competition with
other resource (land/water/feed) users,
• Successful integration of aquaculture
with other farming activities,
• improving the overall governance of the
sector (environmental management,
biodiversity, food safety)
Women waiting for buyers in Cameroon R. Brummet
8. Opportunities for sector growth
Women digging ponds in Malawi
S. Chimatiro
• Reduced catches from capture fisheries
• Increased demand and rising prices of aquaculture
products
• Increased awareness of the potential of aquaculture in
SSA following the AU-NEPAD Fish for All Summit of 2005
and adoption of the AU-NEPAD Abuja Declaration on
Sustainable Aquaculture in Africa
• Increasing awareness of aquaculture as a viable
commercial venture
• The Agreement by AU Head of States at the Food
Security Summit in December 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria
designating fisheries and aquaculture as strategic
commodity alongside rice, maize and other strategic food
products
• Adoption of fisheries and aquaculture as key drivers of
6% CAADP growth target
• Complementary efforts by FAO (Special Programme for
Aquaculture Development in Africa (SPADA), Aquaculture
Network for Africa (ANAF)
9. Key Drivers of Aquaculture Growth
• Increasing demand for fish (rise of African
middle-class, and urban population; dwindling
natural sources)
• Improved environment for investments (rising
demand and prices make investments more
profitable); and
• Reduced risk of production (enhanced research
and scientific knowledge of major commercially
farmed fish species such as tilapia and catfish)
10. Potential of Aquaculture in terms of food and
local employment
• Fish consumption or demand is affected by
(income, prices of fish, prices of fish
competitors and complements and non-price
factors)
• FAO estimated that by 2015 total annual fish
consumption in SSA could be 1.5 -2.0 million
tonnes higher than in 2005 or annual increase
in demand of 3%
• Delgado a et al (2003) reported 2.7% per cent
per year or an additional 1.6 million tonnes of
fish a year by 2015 just to maintain current
consumption of 7.8 kg per person per year.
• Therefore, by 2015, neither domestic
production from capture fisheries (marine and
freshwater) nor current local aquaculture will
be able to provide the increased quantities of
fish needed for human consumption.
Processing trout for export. Highland
Trout, Lesotho (2013)
11. Potential of Aquaculture in terms of food and
local employment
• Given the rise in overall fish consumption, and stagnation
in capture fisheries the question is not what would be the
demand but where could supply come from to fill the gap.
• Therefore, demand will be satisfied through increased
imports and/or expansion of aquaculture
• FAO’ estimates that by 2015 and assuming the SPADA
initiative is fully embraced by the countries aquaculture
production from SSA would be more than 400 000 tonnes
a year,
• But even this will be little in comparison to demand.
• Therefore, aquaculture production may be expanded even
more
12. Lessons learned from the top African Producing
Countries and opportunities to scale up (NEPAD 2012)
• Legislation, Policies and plans: All top producers have strong policies,
strategies and implementation , although some don’t have policies
• Land and water rights: All top ten performing countries had strong
water and land rights in their statutes.
• Mainstreaming of aquaculture into national development plans : All
top producers have aquaculture strongly mainstreamed into national
development plans e.g. Poverty Reduction Strategic Plans and National
Development Strategies, CAADPs.
• Commercial and food security orientation: All countries except a few
have strong commercial/market-led and food security objectives for
the aquaculture sector
• Privatized services: Most of the top producers have aquaculture
services strongly privatized.
13. Potential Models to be Up-scaled (NEPAD 2012)
• Egypt Commercial Tilapia Model:
– Interventionist investments by government (research stations, public hatcheries)
– Market-driven development of aquaculture (immanent development)
– Anchored by good infrastructure and the existence of a pool of highly qualified
aquaculturists who act as investors or managers.
– Comprehensive strategic and implementation plans and legal framework available
to guide and protect investments.
• Nigeria Commercial Catfish Model.
– Market-driven commercial aquaculture development built on a foundation of
aquaculture infrastructure developed through interventionist programmes.
– Human capacity gaps filled by international experts and technologies required for
effective and efficient commercial aquaculture brought in from outside the country.
– Existing subsistence aquaculture infrastructure transformed for commercial
aquaculture production by entrepreneurs.
– Sector policies and strategies developed after take-off of commercial catfish
– farming support equitable participation of all citizens by focusing on the inclusion of
youth and development of village centers.
14. Potential Models to be Up-scaled (NEPAD 2012)
• Malawi Evolutionary Approach Model
– Evolutionary interventionist approach (gradual evolution towards high productivity
and commercialization)
– Increased levels of sustainability in tandem with increased farmer capacity, new
technologies and changing market demands.
– Centralized planning
– Aquaculture development funding mainly dependent on donor resources.
• Kenya High Input Interventionist Model
– Home-grown interventionist approach focused on achieving rapid increases in
aquaculture production
– Large public sector funding to support development of aquaculture value chain.
– Political will and good organizational and implementation capacity to support
effective and efficient roll-out of programme
– Promotion of equitable participation of socio-economic groups, creation of
employment and input and output markets for aquaculture products and services.
15. Conclusion
• Rapid aquaculture development is occurring in countries where market,
governance and investment conditions are conducive;
• Market-led aquaculture development approaches offer the best options
for accelerating aquaculture growth in Africa;
• NEPAD Agency is setting up an Impact Investment Fund for Small &
Medium Enterprises in Fisheries & aquaculture (NEST) of US$150 million
to support aquaculture investments in Africa
• Aquaculture is one of the most environmentally sustainable ways of
producing protein at scale:
16,000 litres of water are needed to produce 1 kg of beef (Grace
Communications Foundation, 2011)
The only net water use in fish farming is water lost through
evaporation.
Therefore, while Africa might have missed out of Green Revolution,
there is a chance for “Blue Revolution”