ENHANCING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF ZAMBIA’S AQUACULTURE THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING

By WINSTON MULEBA Jnr 

Zambia's aquaculture enterprises are faced with different challenges and opportunities requiring tailored solutions, but will all benefit from an improved market organisation and structuring of aquaculture producer organisations.

Capacity building is a cross cutting theme which is one of the major elements for sustainable development. capacity building activities which should be undertaken in relation to aquaculture industry, include provision of training courses within technical cooperation projects, preparation of training materials (e.g. simple methods in aquaculture series, disease diagnostic guides, surveillance methods, extension manuals, technical manuals, etc.), awareness raising through training/workshops, financial and technical support to existing training programmes carried out by partner institutions and custom training courses on specific topics.

Government strategic plans, together with the private sector should help fish farmers to identify business opportunities and to adapt their marketing strategies. The growing expectations from consumers for quality and diversity of food products, especially if locally produced, offer new possibilities to give value to the industry. I regard capacity building as a long-term, continuing process, in which all stakeholders participate (ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and water user groups, professional associations, academics and others).

Capacity Building is much more than training for it includes human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively, this will attracts so many people to venture into fish farming thereby contributing to the cushioning the impact of fish depletion in capture fisheries. Many prospective and existing fish farmers indicate that they have experienced difficulties in obtaining financing for aquaculture businesses. In many cases, lenders are not familiar with aquaculture practices and market potential. In other instances, lenders are concerned with the uncertainty and risk associated with aquaculture ventures. However, even if a lender understands aquaculture and its potential, an inadequately prepared business loan proposal will result in a rejection by the lender. To this effect another essential mechanism for capacity building is partnership development. Partnerships give a local fish farmers: knowledge and skills; innovative and proven methodologies; networking and funding opportunities; replicable models for addressing community needs and managing resources; options for organizational management and governance; and strategies for advocacy, government relations and public outreach.

Government support to the fisheries industry encourages the expansion of fisheries capacity and is widely recognized as a major underlying cause of the overexploitation of fisheries. Some government support programs, such as compensation plans to help workers who are displaced by fishing capacity reductions or who are affected by transitional programs, could encourage the reduction of excess fishing capacity.

Aquaculture development and diversification can also be promoted by market-driven research, innovation and knowledge transfer. To this end, the fish farmers should foster synergy between national research programmes and promote the participation of industry in research and innovation activities – including in particular implementing the Zambia’s aquaculture growth strategy.

Enhancing the competitiveness of Zambia’s aquaculture through Capacity building will achieve economic growth by contributing to the reduction of poverty through improving food supply and rural livelihoods through responsible production, better management practices and improved environmental sustainability, this will also enable farmers to work independently with fisheries and Aquaculture management issues and participate actively in the formulation of management plans in their farming activities.