Zambia’s fisheries and aquaculture sector has received a major boost with the approval of nearly USD 57 million (EUR 51.7 million) in financing for two key projects that could help the country reduce current national fish deficit, estimated at 46 percent.
Currently, landlocked Zambia, with an estimated 18 million people, produces an average 110,349 metric tons (MT) of fish annually, far below the projected national fish demand of 203,928 MT.
To address the gap between fish production and demand, the Zambian government, with financing from the African Development Bank (AfDB) is implementing a USD 50.89 million (EUR 46.16 million) five-year Zambia Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project (ZAEDP) that is slated for completion at the end of 2021, and which when complete would scale up the country’s total fish production by an additional 22,046 MT.
Separately, Africa’s largest aquaculture company, Yalelo Limited, has announced a new USD 6 million (EUR 5.44 million) equity investment in its tilapia production project in Zambia by Finland’s development financier, Finnfund, jointly with Dutch development bank, Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO).
The investment will increase Yalelo’s tilapia production from the current 12,000 MT to 25,000 MT.
“With this investment, we will expand our capacity and respond to the need for affordable, high-quality protein,” Yalelo Chairman Adam Taylor told CNBC Africa. “We take pride in providing our employees with jobs in a vulnerable rural area where few alternative employment opportunities exist.”
Both the ZAEDP and Yalelo projects could increase the total aquaculture production in Zambia to 53,200 MT from the current 33,069 MT.
“We concluded tilapia is very popular in Eastern and Southern Africa, and in Zambia, it is extremely popular and actually the largest part of animal protein for consumers,” said Jari Matero, Finnfund’s associate director and head of its agriculture and forestry portfolio.
For the ZAEDP project, which is projected to increase aquaculture production to 40,200 MT, AfDB is providing USD 45.4 million (EUR 41.2 million) while the government of Zambia is giving USD 5.49 million (EUR 4.98 million), with technical support provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The financing from AfDB and Finnfund comes at a time when FAO says Zambia’s financial institutions have been reluctant to take advantage of potential business opportunities in the fisheries and aquaculture sector because of perceived associated risks.
Elsewhere, the implementation of the ZAEDP is expected to strengthen training and support aquaculture entrepreneurs, establish enabling infrastructure, such as aquaculture parks and processing zones, and building capacity of staff at the Zambia Department of Fisheries. In addition, the country’s “existing legislative, policy, and management dispensation for animal/aquafeed manufacturing” would be reviewed to promote increased investment in quality production.
Both the ZAEDP and Yalelo projects are also likely to reverse the falling fish consumption, which has declined from 14.9 kilograms per capita in the 1970s to six kilograms currently.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
