Embracing aquaculture to meet Africa’s food needs

Decades after the end of colonial rule, Africa is still struggling to feed its people. At least one in five Africans goes to bed hungry and an estimated 140 million people in the continent face acute food insecurity. This challenge is one of a very few that cuts across both rural and urban Africa, and its causes straddle from extreme weather events and climate change, outbreaks of pests and diseases, low capacity building, corruption, government inefficiency, and low adoption of yield-increasing technologies.

To resolve the situation many governments have adopted several short-term measures that have exacerbated the level of dependence and did little to reverse food inflation. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the continent’s annual food imports have shot up over the last half a decade, from $15 billion in 2018 to $43 billion in the current financial year. The African Union’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Biennial Review report (2019-2021) further reveals that Africa is not on track to meet its goal of ending hunger by 2025.

Unless urgent action is taken, the crisis is only going to worsen. Africa’s population is growing at astronomical rates – expected to hit the 2 billion mark by 2050 – and its fish stocks are fully or over-exploited. Increasing aquaculture production capacity is thus very critical to ensuring food security in Africa.

As expected, aquaculture is becoming popular across the world because water occupies most of the planet’s surface area. This form of agriculture refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, algae, and other organisms in all types of water environments. However, its uptick is still low in Africa, with the 54 countries accounting for less than 3% of total world production.

“In Kenya, aquaculture represents only 15% of the national fish production. As the demand for fish is growing, 300,000 tons must be either produced or imported every year to meet the recommended per capita fish consumption target of 10kg per person per year,” says Mary Opiyo, a researcher at the state-run Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute.

So how can Africa speed up aquaculture production?

The growing effects of climate change have led to Africans being in a paradoxical position where they are highly dependent on fish for animal protein but ranking low in per capita fish consumption. Globally, Africans are second only to Asians in terms of relying on fish as a major share of the total animal protein intake in their diet, though the continent leads it in the amount of surface covered by water bodies. These differences illustrate the inequality gap, where middle-class populations or those living near mass water bodies have access to fish.

Thus to spur aquaculture production, governments must improve accessibility, affordability, and availability of produce. More market demand will naturally lead to more supply, raising levels of food security. Moreover, a bigger customer base will stir competition among the different producers leading to the introduction of new species in the market.

If policymakers are looking for a legal framework to capture the goals of increasing aquaculture production, they need to look no further than the already agreed Maputo Declaration (2003) and Malabo Declaration (2014). Both agreements compelled governments to invest at least 10% of their budgets in agriculture, specifically in modern and smart farming methods. Setting up a fish farm is an expensive undertaking that most farmers can only do after taking up huge loans from commercial banks – that inevitably carry a large stone of interest around their necks derailing any plans for future investment.

Government intervention can come in various forms. First, they can invest in national projects where they set up fish farms for farmers and purchase fingerlings. They can also pass specific laws that reduce the price of materials necessary for aquaculture, such as fishing nets, machinery, and refrigerators. Lastly, African governments can source for PPP or intergovernmental partnerships with developed nations where young aspiring farmers gain capacity-building skills abroad or receive low-cost funding from development partners to set up their projects.

However, the success of aquaculture is not just reliant on investments. It also needs a concerted effort to alter social and cultural preferences within the continent. Communities that have historically been cultivators, such as the Bantus, are naturally expected to be slow to adapt to the culture of eating – let alone rearing – fish products. Moreover, herding communities like the Wolof, Fulani, Cushitic tribes of Eastern Africa, and the Berbers of Northern Africa, will find it hard to swap their animal-protein diet for fish. Thus community elders must be involved in the transitioning process and curriculum changes introduced that promote the benefits of eating fish.

Potential obstacles

To increase aquaculture production, Africa will need to address the infrastructure gap. Unreliable transportation and storage facilities hinder the distribution of inputs and produce, making farming unprofitable. While also ensuring adequate water supply for farms could be very challenging at a time when most nations are experiencing severe water shortages.

Moreover, African aquaculture has to grow sustainably. Just like how the continent has made significant strides in reducing the contribution of fossil fuel energy to the electricity grids, African countries can incorporate sustainable aquaculture techniques. In Mauritius, regulatory authorities often assess the environmental impact of farms on the surrounding biodiversity and water quality, while South Africa focuses its efforts on protecting high-value species such as abalones and sea urchins.

Aquaculture must not only contribute to feeding the population. It must provide a healthy diet that is affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and safe. We are working towards well-being creation via the diversification of aquaculture based on the selection of species with rich and diverse nutrient content and the choice of healthy and sustainable feeds that do not compromise the nutritional quality of the product,” says Maria Darias, an aquaculture specialist at the Institut de Recherche’s funded AfriMAQUA research network on aquaculture.

According to Brett Macey, a specialist scientist at the South African Department of Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries, some promising proposals can address the sustainability concern. “One of the ways to balance environmental and societal challenges while increasing the aquaculture production in South Africa is through a wider adoption of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) technologies that combine cultivation of fed aquaculture species (finfish/shrimp) with organic extractive aquaculture species (shellfish/herbivorous fish) and inorganic extractive aquaculture species (seaweed) to create balanced systems for bio-mitigation, product diversification, and risk reduction.”

The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated what was already a big challenge in the continent. If African governments take concrete steps to spur sustainable aquaculture, then the goal of zero hunger may not appear as far-fetched as it currently is.

Citations

Food and Agriculture Organization. Assessment of the integration of fishing and and aquaculture in policy development. Framework and application in Africa (2020). Policy Support and Governance Gateway. Retrieved July 11^th, 2023, from

Chin Yee Chan, Nhuong Tran, Shanali Pethiyagoda, Charles C. Crissman, Timothy B. Sulser, Michael J. Phillips. Prospects and challenges of fish for food security in Africa. Global Food Security Volume 20 (2019): 17-25.

World Bank. Putting Africans at the Heart of Food Security and Climate Resilience. Retrieved July 11^th, 2023, from