By Clement Kaukuetu
Aquaculture is defined as the farming of aquatic organisms, under controlled conditions to increase production for food while maintaining environmental preservation.
This method of farming is a critical resource in securing sustainable and steady supply of fish, supporting local economies, and promoting food security by reducing pressure on wild fish populations.
Globally, more than half of all consumed seafood now originates from aquaculture, underscoring the sector’s enduring significance since its rapid modernization and expansion in the 1970s.
Last year, the State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture highlighted, that in 2022 farmed seafood surpassed capture fisheries as the main producer of aquatic animals for the first time in history.
Furthermore, global economic value of aquaculture in 2024 by conservative estimates, is between 160 and 230 billion US dollars, according to recent statistics. And with further investment, projections are expecting gross value of 370.54 billion US dollars by 2034.
It is thus no coincidence, that the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the African Development Bank, all place significant importance on aquaculture as a catalyst for food security, poverty eradication and economic diversification.
And it is this economic diversification that both excites and promises massive returns in revenue for fish farming and interlinked industries. This places aquaculture among industries with the most competitive value chains as it encompasses various stages, such as hatcheries, growth management systems, processing, feed production, marketing and sales, and equipment manufacturing.
While the initial idea was concerned with overfishing and managing depletion of wild fish populations, the aquaculture value chain has since expanded to hold colossal value for other sectors. These are logistics, engineering, technology, traditional agriculture, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, construction, processing and export industries.
This diversity creates opportunities for government and investors alike, to identify and productively exploit platforms within which to cultivate job creation, socioeconomic growth and future prosperity. The industry’s dynamism allows for participation and accessibility for small-scale farmers to large corporations, and contributes to economic stability and sustainability.
For developing countries, and in particular sub-Sahara Africa, this industry provides an avenue to help realize SDGs but also support strategic national development projects. Namibia specifically, which is currently engrossed with establishing viable diversification strategies, stands to benefit immensely from targeted aquaculture development.
With the advent of oyster, abalone and salmon farming, the country pivots a revolutionary shift from land based aquaculture to sea based aquaculture, bringing new focus to commercialization and industrialization. A first for sub-Saharan Africa, projections highlight that at its peak, salmon farming in Namibia could triple the current value of total fishing industry and raise the fisheries sector contribution to the GDP from 4% to 12%.
Of course, for the industry to thrive, various strategies need to be deployed to ensure its sound regulation, competitiveness and quality assurance standards.
The starting point perhaps, would be the revision of legislation relevant to aquaculture with development of specialized policies around salmon, abalone and oyster farming. Eventually this could mean the de-amalgamation of aquaculture from agriculture to ensure targeted interventions are devised and met. This is because these industries do not have the same policy dynamics and could require nuanced regulatory frameworks that speak to their unique strengths, opportunities and challenges.
But key above all, is the government’s adoption and stake in especially sea-based aquaculture. This would bolster the nation’s public-private partnerships, ultimately driving innovation and progress in the blue economy.
*Clement Kaukuetu is the country director of the African Aquaculture Company, a pioneering salmon farm.
