Though there have been continued attempts to expand African aquaculture efforts, the continent’s global contribution to total production remains just 1 percent, with financing remaining a major challenge in expanding the sector.
Lahsen Ababouch, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) senior advisor on fisheries and aquaculture, talked to SeafoodSource during this year’s Marine Ingredients Organization (IFFO) annual conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on the potential of Africa’s aquaculture and constraints holding back funding for the sector.
SeafoodSource: Could you give us a general overview of Africa’s inland and marine aquaculture sector, including its estimated size?
Ababouch: Africa lies between two big bodies [of water] – the Indian and Atlantic oceans – yet there is no meaningful aquaculture investment in these marine-rich areas. More than 80 percent of global aquaculture is in Asia, with Africa’s share being less than 1.2 percent [and], nearly 50 percent [of that percentage] being in Egypt – one of the world’s leading tilapia producers.
The success story of tilapia in Egypt has inspired other African countries such as Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, and Morocco. I think the preference for tilapia is because of the species’ ability to withstand challenges such as diseases and, therefore, offer much less risk.
SeafoodSource: What are some of the aquaculture market trends characterizing Africa’s aquaculture sector today?
Ababouch: The success story of Egypt’s aquaculture is largely driven by the commitment of the government to support investment through national banks, as well as efficiency in the utilization of water from the Nile River that irrigates land for agriculture and recycles [it] for aquaculture. Whoever you talk to about aquaculture in Africa, the perception is the sector is too risky to invest in, unlike marine tourism around oceans and lakes.
The view is that investing in infrastructure and property around lakes or oceans is a good idea because those with money know more about these businesses than they do about aquaculture. Investors and financiers claim there is no infrastructure to assess the risk of investing in aquaculture, and so they stay out.
SeafoodSource: How do you see Africa’s aquaculture growing in the medium to long term?
Ababouch: The future of Africa’s aquaculture lies in the marine sector, especially with the advantage of the continent lying between the two [aforementioned] bodies of water. There could be some challenges in both oceans, but the greatest constraint is the absence of mapping of these waters to identify suitable aquaculture sites.
There have been some efforts made by Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana by using GIS technology to map out potential aquaculture sites, but even this effort is constrained by lack of financing to [fully] carry out. Marine aquaculture in Africa requires a lot of investment, but one can borrow [knowledge] from markets such as Vietnam’s shrimp or India’s aquaculture. In these markets, public-private partnerships have attracted the support of international financial institutions.
SeafoodSource: Currently, financing Africa’s aquaculture sector remains a major challenge. Why is this the case, and how best can this constraint be addressed?
Ababouch: A good example of the way forward for Africa is to look at Asia, where production of aquaculture was combined with innovative ways to ensure produce reaches the market and fetches a good price. One driver in the success of the Asian aquaculture sector – and which small-scale aquaculture farmers in Africa can copy – is the clustering of small-scale aquaculture farms. A group of fish farmers in the same area can come together and collectively address issues, such as access to feed at a better price, because by coming together, they have better bargaining power.
If aquaculture farmers come together, they can collectively access credit, insure one another, and cover one another when one fails. So, the challenge for Africa is how do fish farmers organize themselves into such clusters and get the input of governments?
SeafoodSource: What options do governments and fish farmers have in attracting financing for growing Africa’s aquaculture?
Ababouch: My take is that there are financial institutions, equity funds, and other lenders who have money that can be used in developing Africa’s aquaculture, but there is competition for the same funds from other sectors.
The approach toward increasing aquaculture output in African countries should start with the creation of a national policy or strategy that gives priority to aquaculture investment.
Obviously, such a policy [should] lead to a law that governs the development of aquaculture. The development begins with assessment of the potential of a country’s aquaculture, mapping out suitable sites for such activity, and identifying species that can thrive there.
With [regards to] mapping, a government should call for expression of interest, and once the applications are in, let each of them be scrutinized; those that are found to have potential to invest [should] have a chance to develop their projects with government support. If a country is thinking of producing 50,000 metric tons of fish from aquaculture, let it be clear from the beginning where the seed is going to come from and how [it] is going to build its own capacity to produce adequate and quality feed.
SeafoodSource: What opportunities do you see in the growth of Africa’s aquaculture?
Ababouch: Fed aquaculture all over the world requires a steady supply of quality feed, which is not produced in Africa. Most of it is imported. Until a critical mass of industry is created and local hatcheries developed, the reliance on imports by African fish farmers continues, which could pose a constraint to the growth of aquaculture in Africa.
If the continent is to develop its aquaculture sector, it has to do it properly by implementing the right policies and governments prioritizing fish farming through institutions that focus specifically on the sector.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization
