FISH4ACP Project Sets Priorities to Strengthen Zimbabwe's Tilapia Fish Value Chain

(MENAFN- African Press Organization)
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The tilapia sector is devoid of reliable social, economic and environmental data that frame its operations. The information is very fragmented such that there is no primary source of validated information to understand and base on the development strategy.

To address the challenges and strengthen the positive attributes identified in the tilapia value chain analysis (VCA) in Zimbabwe, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with support from the European Union (EU) and the German federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) brought together more than 60 key players in the fisheries and aquaculture sector to review and validate the results of the tilapia VCA in order to set priorities, develop an upgraded national strategy for the value chain and develop a sustainable implementation and coordination plan.

“Zimbabwe has seen a fair amount of investment in fish farming especially through development partners and the private sector. These investments however, have achieved varying degrees of success and have not yet fully tapped into the country's full fish and aquaculture production potential. As demonstrated with all other farming enterprises, the Value Chain Approach helps in pinpointing where on the chain interventions are needed. Government of Zimbabwe appreciates the effort you have put together as stakeholders under difficult conditions especially in view of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Honourable Douglas Karoro, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in his official opening remarks of the meeting.

The workshop was held in Harare from 29 to 30 March 2022 organized by the FISH4ACP project (Fisheries for the African, Asian and the Pacific countries). FISH4ACP is an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) contributing to food and nutrition security, economic prosperity and job creation by ensuring the economic, social and environmental sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The two-day workshop involved validation of findings of the study that was conducted by the Chinhoyi University of Technology which was commissioned by FAO. The study was the first phase of the FISH4ACP project. It revealed that the small scale farmers face viability challenges unless some policy and economic fundamentals are addressed. It was very clear from the data presented that gender and youth inclusivity was an area of concern and as such the project requires to address this area.

The presentation of the findings informed the process of setting high level national priorities to help to strengthen functional performance of the sector. Most of the priorities were inclined towards influencing economic and environmental policy reforms as well as capacity building of value chain players as key pillars to ensuring that there is sustainability. The priority setting process was led by key tilapia fish farming sector players to ensure that they present home-grown solutions and localised implementation plans. The meeting defined the FISH4ACP's vision aligned towards Zimbabwe's vision 2030 agenda as prescribed in the country's National Development Strategy.

“Zimbabwe requires a consensus of effort as we seek to transform the food systems and better people's livelihoods while sustainably managing the environment. As anchored in FAO's strategic framework on four betters, in this sector we are committed to ensuring that there is better production, better nutrition, a better environment and better livelihoods enshrined through tilapia fish farming and the fisheries sector at large,” said Patrice Talla, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa and FAO Representative to Zimbabwe.“Access to tilapia in Zimbabwe should not be a luxury product as it is now,” concluded Talla.

Upon setting priorities for a sustainable tilapia value chain, the meeting agreed that tilapia can provide not only food security but also income generating opportunities for farmers including women and youths. There was a general consensus that for this to be possible, there was need for creating an enabling environment and policy reforms to address the challenges identified in the tilapia value chain. The meeting ended with the setting up of a value chain taskforce team that will initiate, validate, plan and implement the country's FISH4ACP strategy. The taskforce will continually meet and review progress of implementation of the priorities and action plan in the second phase of this project.

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