The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has increased support for the aquaculture sector in Gabon. It plans to focus on increasing the number of youth involved in fish farming across the Atlantic coast of central African country.
The FAO will be working in collaboration with the Gabonese government to offer workshops on aquaculture investments, decision-making, and business planning. It will provide participants fish farming and harvesting equipment. The training focus will be on fish-farming site selection, manufacturing and assembling floating cages, production techniques, improving quality broodstock for tilapia, and catfish.
“We placed great emphasis on the vision of aquaculture as a business, which should make it possible to ensure the profitability and sustainability of activities and to mobilize finance outside development projects or government donations," FAO Aquaculture Officer Lionel Kinadjian said.
FAO estimates Gabon’s fish imports is more than 25,000 tons annually, which is used to plug the widening deficit in production.
“A lack of availability of quality basic inputs makes it difficult for the sector to attract new investors and meet the government’s objectives to double national fish production, reaching 50 000 tons by 2025,” Kinadjian said.
FAO's ongoing support for Gabon’s aquaculture segment would boost current efforts to address constraints facing the aquaculture sector “such as a lack of available fish food or quality fingerlings at an affordable price as well as the absence of investment capital," according to Kinadjian.
“Aquaculture in Gabon is still at an early stage and does not contribute significantly to food security, but the development of aquaculture offers real job opportunities for young people,” Kinadjian said.
Photo courtesy of Gabon Aquaculture
