January 5, 2007

 

Growth prospects good for African aquaculture but challenges abound
 

There is growing interest in African aquaculture but challenges abound, according to an article from Eurofish magazine.

Africa currently only amounts for a little less than 1.0 per cent of global aquaculture production. Until the mid-1990s production was relatively stable at around 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes, but developments since then have shown that there is both room and possibilities for growth, the magazine said, for example, Egypt's production has increased five-fold in less than 10 years.

 

In 2004, Egypt accounted for almost 83 per cent of the total African production. Nile tilapia is the dominating species in Egypt farming some 200,000 tonnes of the fish in 2004 accounting for 42 percent of the total aquaculture production of the country, according to the report.

 

Countries like Congo, Nigeria, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are catching up, the magazine said.

In 2004, close to 90 percent of African aquaculture is done in inland waters, - lakes, water reservoirs and rivers.

 

There is some marine aquaculture, mainly in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, while activities on the Atlantic coast have been very limited.

 

The largest species in African aquaculture in terms of volume include tilapias, gray mullet, carps and catfishes, the magazine said. There is also some production of shrimp, mainly black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon).

The magazine said there are two types of investments in African aquaculture-community based aquaculture promoted by international organisations, to alleviate poverty and commercial aquaculture, mainly privately financed and export oriented.

 

Small scale community based aquaculture projects have been started in countries such as Cote d"Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia whereas larger scale commercial investments are in countries such as Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Commercial aquaculture operations in Africa, targeting the international export markets are at a disadvantage because of inadequate transport options. Still, some projects have been successful, such as tilapia farming in Zimbabwe, shrimp farming in Mozambique and Madagascar. .

 

The local markets, which until now have been mainly served by small scale, community based fish farming, are probably grossly under-estimated. There is a growing demand in the region for fish and seafood, and many markets are able and willing to pay good prices, the report said.

 

The reginon needs development of distribution systems, and cold chains, the magazine noted.

 

However, problems such as corruption and lack of infrastructure in some areas are major obstacles.

 

Lack of seed, lack of feed and lack of knowledge and financing provide further obstacles.

 

Banks in the region are reluctant to finance aquaculture projects as they do not know the sector, they do not see sufficient collateral available. Investors also do not know how to present their projects to financial institutions and ask for too large external financing shares for their projects.

A recent assessment of the situation for African aquaculture by the FAO points to a number of initiatives to further  development such as increasing the involvement of the private sector in the areas of  seed, feed, and technology and encouraging them to be active in the management of the aquaculture sector while contributing to research.

 

Other ways include the government divesting public infrastructure and letter the private sector take over for investments.