Aquaculture In Africa

An explanation on the trends and prospects for Aquaculture in Africa

Aquaculture is an important and growing source of protein for several developing countries (Towers,2012) . It had not only been believed to provide food but it was also regarded as a source of employment in rural areas. It was generally recognised in most countries of Africa in recent years and it is still being carried on even today around the globe. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, aquaculture "is understood to mean the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants (FAO 1988). Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection

“Wet, tropical sub-Saharan Africa could support many more inland aquaculture facilities, and Tilapia, an African native, is one obvious choice for production” (Towers,2012). She further said, In principle aquaculture could not only feed people but also reduce unsustainable inland wild-fish harvest and the killing of monkeys and other “bush meat” animals that threatens survival of the species hunted and introduces diseases to humans. Northern Africa is drier and inland aquaculture facilities may be limited by the need for sustainable sources of freshwater, but facilities on the coast could readily support saltwater aquaculture. Food-challenged Somalia, for example, has the longest coastline in Africa and could support shrimp farms (Brown,

One is that the contradiction in objectives and evaluation of aquaculture programmes. And the other one is that the absence of adequately trained personnel to undertake production programmes. While aquaculture, specifically fish culture, is conceived and supported by governments as a means of producing cheap fish to feed the people in rural areas, the success of the programmes is evaluated on the basis of monetary benefits alone (Jahan, 2013) . The Workshop was of the view that fish culture should be organized either as a government-subsidized food production industry to feed the poor, like agriculture or even fishing in many countries of the world, or in the alternative as an economically viable industry that can make substantial contributions to the overall food production, economy and employment situation in the country. Combinations of these objectives in one and the same production programme can only be expected to yield indifferent