Aquaculture development for income, employment and food supply has been widely recognised and often promoted in Africa, although its growth over recent decades has been slow. Government agencies, international development partners and private sector investors alike had become rather disappointed by being unable to meet expectations.
While useful increases in production have been achieved in countries such as Uganda, Nigeria, Zambia, Namibia and Togo, apart from Egypt the overall contribution of Africa towards global aquaculture production still remains negligible. However, with a greater recognition of the role of markets, the importance of using improved husbandry techniques, and a rise in demand for aquaculture product, the prospects for growth appear to be changing, with encouraging development in many locations. Given also that population growth and static or declining capture fisheries production is widening national supply gap, aquaculture has a potentially important role in contributing to Africa’s food supply.
The Aquaculture Working Group (AWG) has been established within the Partnership for African Fisheries in April 2010 to address constraints in the sector, and provide strategic approaches to effective policy development and investment options for more positive performance. With an initial operating period of 12 months, it will provide an important opportunity for underpinning the sound development of aquaculture, identifying and sharing best approaches, and working with national governments and sectoral stakeholders alike.
It sets out to provide an effective resource for impartial perspectives and policy development for the sector and to create a framework for development action meeting the broad aims of the AU/NEPAD and the CAADP. It will work in conjunction with related proposals for research and capacity building (dealt with under the framework of FishNet), and for governance, with the aim of creating a strategic resource in building national sectors and regional output, delivering benefits effectively to both producers and consumers.
Description of the Aquaculture Working Group
The Aquaculture Working Group has been set up as a small, region-wide body linking in with PAF and other initiatives, and networking with appropriate partners to deliver its broad aims. It will align specifically to the NEPAD ‘Fish for All’ Abuja framework for aquaculture development. Within the overall management structure of the PAF programme, it has a small Steering Group to lead, co-ordinate and deliver the first stages of the programme. This Steering Group, is now in the process of identifying themes, priorities and mechanisms at national, regional and thematic levels, and will shortly advise on the commissioning of key background reviews, workshops and policy development processes.
The sector development framework for the Aquaculture Working Group would aim to outline targets for output in different sub sectors, and most promising ways of developing production. The Framework would also aim to provide the regional platform by which these objectives can be carried out, while at the same time ensuring that policy support across the fishery sector is appropriately balanced. In line with PAFs approach, this programme will work with a wide range of stakeholders including national governments and sectoral stakeholders such as farmers, academics, private sector, NGOs and consumers. The work of the Aquaculture Working Group in support of the sector will also be furthered through a small consortium of active professional centres, also as far as possible linked with EU, FAO, WorldFish and other support or investment entities.
The Aquaculture Working Group would also build on a platform that NEPAD has established through the NEPAD/African Biosciences Initiative (NEPAD/ABI) whereby centres of expertise in life sciences have been networked at regional level to conduct research, build capacity, outreach and stakeholder dialogues to address the continent’s challenges. A specific link with the NEPAD/ABI thematic networks on fisheries and aquaculture would be made with the fish node at the University of Malawi which will host and support the Aquaculture Working Group.
At other levels, the programme could be used as a vehicle for defining and supporting external development investment; the interest of IFAD is already noted, and the World Bank and the IFC have also recently expressed interest in the sector in Africa. More regionally, the African Development Bank is also increasing its interest in the sector.
What the Aquaculture Working Group is doing
The table below provides an outline of the main activities proposed for the Aquaculture Working Group. These will be adjusted as required in the course of the work, and details of specific activities, findings, and other outputs will be posted as appropriate on the PAF website.
