https://en.sputniknews.africa/20261013/aquaculture-for-africas-food-security-reducing-imports-building-more-self-reliant-continent-1089929229.html
Aquaculture for Africa’s Food Security: Reducing Imports, Building More Self-Reliant Continent
Aquaculture for Africa’s Food Security: Reducing Imports, Building More Self-Reliant Continent
Sputnik Africa
Despite persistent challenges such as high fish import costs, overfishing, and limited access to affordable fish feed and fingerlings, West Africa can unlock... 13.10.2026, Sputnik Africa
2026-10-13T17:57+0200
2026-10-13T17:57+0200
2026-10-13T17:57+0200
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Aquaculture for Africa’s Food Security: Reducing Imports, Building More Self-Reliant Continent
Sputnik Africa
Despite persistent challenges such as high fish import costs, overfishing, and limited access to affordable fish feed and fingerlings, West Africa can unlock its aquaculture potential by building stronger, more profitable fish production and supply networks that boost local output, strengthen food security, and create jobs, an expert has stressed.
West Africa spends more than $2 billion annually importing fish and other aquatic foods, while average fish consumption across the sub-region declined from over 13 kg per person in 2008 to just above 11.5 kg in 2025. Several countries have introduced aquaculture development initiatives to increase domestic supplies and reduce reliance on imports. Ghana's National Aquaculture Development Plan (2024–2028) aims to raise annual farmed fish production from approximately 116,000 tonnes in 2023 to nearly 239,000 tonnes by 2028, while Nigeria launched a financing initiative in June 2025 to improve fish farmers' access to credit. More recently, Senegal unveiled its 36.5 billion CFA franc aquaculture development plan in May 2026, targeting 20,000 tonnes of annual production by 2030, while Côte d'Ivoire officially launched its ProDeCAP project in March 2026 to expand domestic fish production. Together, these initiatives signal growing regional efforts to develop fish farming as a commercial industry, although their success will depend on whether producers can overcome high operating costs, secure reliable supplies of fish feed, and reach consumers at competitive prices.Ghanaian aquaculture expert Jacob Doe Adzikah, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana, told African Currents in an interview that fish farming is vital to West Africa's food sovereignty and economic independence. He cited high feed costs, shortages of quality fingerlings, limited financing, and poor infrastructure as major challenges, calling for regional cooperation on breeding programs, local feed production, and common industry standards to boost output and reduce imports.For the full perspective and further insights from our guest, tune in to this episode of African Currents, a podcast by Sputnik Africa.Don’t miss an episode — beyond our website, you can also catch our episodes on Telegram.► You can also listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Pocket Casts, Afripods, Podcast Addict.► Check out all the episodes of African Currents.
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Aquaculture for Africa’s Food Security: Reducing Imports, Building More Self-Reliant Continent
Despite persistent challenges such as high fish import costs, overfishing, and limited access to affordable fish feed and fingerlings, West Africa can unlock its aquaculture potential by building stronger, more profitable fish production and supply networks that boost local output, strengthen food security, and create jobs, an expert has stressed.
West Africa spends more than $2 billion annually importing fish and other aquatic foods, while average fish consumption across the sub-region declined from over 13 kg per person in 2008 to just above 11.5 kg in 2025. Several countries have introduced aquaculture development initiatives to increase domestic supplies and reduce reliance on imports. Ghana's National Aquaculture Development Plan (2024–2028) aims to raise annual farmed fish production from approximately 116,000 tonnes in 2023 to nearly 239,000 tonnes by 2028, while Nigeria launched a financing initiative in June 2025 to improve fish farmers' access to credit. More recently, Senegal unveiled its 36.5 billion CFA franc aquaculture development plan in May 2026, targeting 20,000 tonnes of annual production by 2030, while Côte d'Ivoire officially launched its ProDeCAP project in March 2026 to expand domestic fish production. Together, these initiatives signal growing regional efforts to develop fish farming as a commercial industry, although their success will depend on whether producers can overcome high operating costs, secure reliable supplies of fish feed, and reach consumers at competitive prices.
Ghanaian aquaculture expert Jacob Doe Adzikah, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana, told African Currents in an interview that fish farming is vital to West Africa's food sovereignty and economic independence. He cited high feed costs, shortages of quality fingerlings, limited financing, and poor infrastructure as major challenges, calling for regional cooperation on breeding programs, local feed production, and common industry standards to boost output and reduce imports.
"Food sovereignty is a very important subject that we should always have because if you are a country and you are not food sovereign, it means that you're depending on someone else for your stomach [...]. I think the conversation for African or West African countries should be: how can we localize our upper culture ecosystem, have control over the production systems, and share resources so that we can scale up the production of farm fish or fish to feed our population? Then we can also say that we are fish or food sovereign. And that is a very important conversation we need to have. And I'm happy to share some of the ideas with you. One way of achieving this, producing a nutritious fish product at a very competitive price for our population in the sub-region, is that we must start thinking about regional initiatives. In the aquaculture sector, we have a common challenge. One classic challenge is having access to quality seed or fingerling. In most African agriculture countries, they are struggling to have access to quality seedlings or fingerlings, which are the primary raw material to even start with production. They are struggling with quality," Adzikah noted.
For the full perspective and further insights from our guest, tune in to this episode of African Currents, a podcast by Sputnik Africa.
Don’t miss an episode — beyond our website, you can also catch our episodes on
Telegram.► Check out all the episodes of African Currents. 
