Aquaculture initiative launched to fight global hunger

A major international initiative has been launched to better understand the role of aquaculture in food security in poor countries.

Bringing together a global alliance of development agencies, governments and universities, the initiative will help low-income food-deficit countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to develop sustainable policies for improving the livelihoods of millions of poor people.

A statement issued by the project managers, The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says the European Union (EU) is funding the three-year project with €1 million.

The project, Aquaculture for Food Security, Poverty Alleviation and Nutrition (AFSPAN),  is also in partnership with a global alliance of 20 development agencies, governments and universities and these partnership represents the “world’s regions where aquaculture plays a major role and supports the livelihoods of millions of small-scale fish farmers.”

The project will develop new ways to quantify the contribution of aquaculture with better tools and more systematic and quantitative assessments, according to the FAO.

“The project will work closely with fish farming communities and will focus on field research in many major aquaculture countries in the developing world. It will develop tools and methodologies to help key partners to develop policies geared to improving aquaculture’s contribution to food and nutrition security,” said Rohana Subasinghe, senior FAO expert on aquaculture and coordinator of the project.

It will elaborate strategies for improving the impact of aquaculture on food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation, the FAO stated.

By Ekow Quandzie