Facts and Figures

• Aquaculture provides important contributions to food security and relief from poverty:

– nutritional benefits from the consumption of fish;
– income to those employed in the sector;
– multiplier and spillover effects in fishery-dependent regions;
– through generation of revenues from exports, taxation, license fees and from payment for access to resources by foreign fleets or foreign investment in aquaculture.
– the harvest, sale and processing of fish thus contribute indirectly to food security by increasing purchasing power at individual or household level and also regionally, and nationally.

• In 2007, fish accounted for 15.7% of the global population’s intake of animal protein, and 6.1% of all protein consumed.

 

• Globally, fish provides more than 1.5 billion people with almost 20% of their average per capita intake of animal protein, and 3 billion people with 15% of such protein (FAO, 2011).

• More than two billion people in the world, particularly in developing countries, are estimated to be undernourished through deficiency in essential vitamins and minerals, especially in vitamin A, iron and zinc. Fish can contribute to reducing micro-nutrient deficiencies and reducing this health burden.

 

In 2010, developed countries were responsible for 76% of the total import value of fish and fishery products. The European Union (EU) is by far the largest single market for imported fish. EU fishery imports represents 40% of total world imports.

 

 

Per capita fish consumption will increase in all continents, except in Africa (owing to population growing faster than supply)

 

 

• Aquaculture development in Africa has lagged far behind that seen in Asia. It currently produces less than 5% of Africa's fish and less than 2% of total world aquaculture production.

• Over the past decade, however, growing demand, the availability of suitable technologies and growing capacity has produced aquaculture success stories in several countries. In Egypt, for example, aquaculture production has grown tenfold since the 1990s. In Uganda aquaculture production grew at an average of around 142% annually between 2004 and 2006. In Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria over the same period, annual growth rates were 62%, 43% and 39%, respectively.

• Africa is rich in freshwater systems comprising natural lakes, man-made lakes or reservoirs and rivers, Lake Victoria is the second largest in the world, Lake Tanganyika is the second largest in Africa and the second deepest in the world. 11 million people live in the Lake Tanganyika watershed which spreads across four countries.

• Fish is an important food for over 400 million Africans. It has been projected that by the year 2015 the continent will need an additional 1.6 million tons of fish a year just to maintain current consumption. By 2030 it is expected that the demand will have increased by a further 2.6 million tons a year.

• The nutritional benefits of fish consumption have a positive link to increased food security and decreased poverty rates in developing states.

• A rapid increase in the supply of fish is urgently required over the next decades to meet Africa’s and the world’s demands.

 

China and the rest of Asia overwhelmingly dominate the world in reported aquaculture output. They report a total output which is double that of the rest of the world put together.

 

• Wild fish extraction for fish feed has threatened ocean stocks and created conflict with the demand for fish for human consumption.

 

• Population growth is one of the main challenges facing management of the fisheries resources of African lakes. The rate of population growth in the countries in the Great Lakes region is between 3% to 4% compared to about 0.5% in many developed countries.

 

• Overfishing is having a negative effect on most freshwater lakes in Africa, and in particular Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika & Lake Victoria

 

• Overfishing will deplete Lake Victoria’s fish stocks. It will become another Lake Malawi, which has lost 93% of its fish in the last 20 years. Uganda’s annual fish catch from Lake Victoria has declined from 238,533 tons in 2005 to 183,824 metric tons in 2011, according to figures from the National Fisheries Resource Research Institute. Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania account for a total catch of one million tons annually.

 

• Uganda is the biggest supplier of fish in Africa, with 20.6kg per capita, (FAO). Uganda exported 32,300 tons of Nile Perch alone to Europe in 2011.

 

• Unsustainable fishing practices in many regions in Africa has lead to overfishing in most of Africa’s lakes, dams and rivers.

 

Overall environmental impact of overfishing and other threats to aquatic life

 

 

 

 

• The Economist – 2011: Africa is now one of the world's fastest-growing regions

 

• The Economist finds that from 2000 to 2010, six of the world's ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa

 

• FAO - Aquaculture is the fastest growing food-producing sector in the world, contributing one third of global food fish production.

 

• Aquaculture continues to be the fastest-growing animal-food producing sector in the world and currently accounts for nearly half (45.6%) of the world’s fish consumption.

 

• FAO - it is estimated that by 2012 more than 50% of global food fish consumption will have originated from aquaculture.

 

• FAO - Aquaculture has represented an annual growth rate of nearly 7% per annum over the past 20 years.

 

• Many Sub-Sahara countries in Africa have a well-established fishing culture with many abundant lakes, dams and rivers. FAO is committed to helping manage fisheries and aquaculture more effectively and to ensuring that fish continue to be a significant source of food, livelihood and trade for future generations. The industry provides a rich food protein for humans as well as millions of jobs throughout the world.

 

The Economist – Fastest-growing economies

 

 

 

FAO - From a production of less than 1 million tons per year in the early 1950s, production in 2011 was reported to be 63.6 million tons with a value of US$97 billion, representing an annual growth rate of nearly 7%.

 

• Economists at the World Fish Research Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), estimate that the total world production of food-fish will increase by over 40% by 2020.

 

• Internationally, approximately 40% of the world’s fish supply is traded, as compared with 10% of the meat supply.

 

• Capture fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with about 142 million tons of fish in 2008. Of this, 115 million tons were used as human food, providing an apparent per capita supply of about 17 kg, which is an all-time high - an increase from 9.9 kgs in 1960.

Between now and 2050 the worlds population will rise by a third, but world demand for agricultural goods will rise by 70%

Economist

 

Projected aquaculture production for Africa based on current trends from FAO figures in 2012

 

 

Fish is an important food for over 400 million Africans. It has been projected that the Continent will need an additional 1.5 million tons of fish a year by 2020 just to maintain current consumption. This demand will increase by a further 250,000 tons each year.

Poverty and malnutrition figures per country

 

 

Africa’s per capita food fish consumption is 9.1 kg per year, half that of most developed countries. With a population of 400 million relying on fish protein, and assuming by 2020 the per capita consumption increases 5% per year, reaching 14.1 kgs in 2020, the continent will need to produce an additional 2 million tons of fish by 2020. This means each year for the next eight years the continent should produce an additional 250,000 tons just to reach this target.
THIS EQUATES TO 250 FARMS PER YEAR

 

The World Fish Center projects that Africa needs approximately 250,000 tons of additional fish protein each year to meet current consumption. Together with the UN objective to eliminate poverty in Africa alone, it is estimated that an additional 440,000 tons of fish protein is needed. Additionally, allowing for an annual 5% per capita increase for the 400 million Africans relying on fish annually, it will be necessary to produce 182,000 tons each year.
PROJECTED DEFICIT IN 2020 is 2 millions tons

 

 

• Sub-Sahara Africa needs hundreds of aquaculture farms to address the estimated deficit in 2014 of 84,000 tons.

 

• It is estimated that the deficit in 2020 will be in the region of 2 million tons after taking into account a 7% annual aquaculture production increase on the continent.

 

• Africa has the water, the space, the technology and the ideal climatic conditions to rise to this challenge, following by example the success stories in aquaculture growth in both Egypt and Uganda.

 

• Both the aquaculture industry and the African continent are growing by at least 7% year on year.

 

• Governments , international organsations and investors are ready – Africa Food Basket has the skillset and technology to unite and bring together all the players.

 

PROJECTION