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News
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Janice Spencer I would like to take this opportunity to thank the World Aquaculture Society members for all their hard efforts, time and promotion, in making this, the very first World Aquaculture Society event to be held in Cape Town, Africa in June of this year, such a rip roaring success. The Aquaculture without Frontiers team were so pleased to be able to attend and have a stand at the event. Guests were provided to a plethora of Aquaculture stands, with information and technology second to none. There were some excellent posters supplied by students that provided information for those attending, plus seminars and side shows. The President of Guinea, Professor Alpha Conde and now President of the African Union, who is keen to promote aquaculture in Africa, was also due to attend and lend his support, and give and address to the audience, but unfortunately at the last moment was not able to attend. Such was the importance of this event that Dr Ibriam Mayaki the Chief Executive of NEPAD, (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) the lead agency of the African Union gave an excellent opening speech, and NEPAD were highly visible with a large stand at the event. The event itself was held at the prestigious International Convention Centre held at the Waterfront in Cape Town, and until the very last few days looked like the attendance was going to be lower than hoped. Then on the first two days hundreds of people filed in and registered for the event, eventually making the total of attendance in the region of some 2,000 people, of which 1,300 of those were Africans, who had travelled from many of the 55 African Nations to visit the event. It can take roughly eight hours to fly over the great continent of Africa, so one can imagine how far some of these African visitors had travelled in order to attend. Such was the enthusiasm of these visitors that we were inundated on the AwF stand with requests for help and information. We found that many of our visitors were from the volunteer sector too, and asked that they be put on a list to be contacted as soon as AwF projects were up and running. Part of our mandate at AwF is to help smallholder fish farmers in any way possible whether it be to provide good quality feed, fish stocks or just provide advice and help on establishing a way a forward, like setting up ponds and similar activities. Fish is one of the most nutritious foods in the world, and many Africans are without that vital nutrition at critical times in their lives, thereby leading to illness and the inability to reach certain critical growth stages for young children. Infants and nursing mothers are particularly at risk from this lack of protein. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life is a critical milestone and without that quality protein they do not have the same chance as any other child in the world. The African nation is a very young nation with the average age being of just 19 for the continent, and by that time many of the female population are pregnant or already have children. Indeed there is already
a nation of young children already born and in the coming decades will need employment. Smallholder farms of which there are many are often left for the elderly, infirmed, or pregnant mothers to attend to and keep their family farming businesses going. The younger Africans head into the urban areas, because they believe this to be the only way forward. Indeed, many find that there are not the opportunities that they had expected, and thus they fall by the wayside in terms of fulfilling their dreams and useful work. Africa itself has many resources, but Agriculture and Aquaculture have been neglected by national governments and the international community over a long period. Smallholder farmers and particularly women are often excluded from the development of agricultural policies and research programmes that effect their livelihoods. Experience shows that smallholder farmer groups with appropriate financial, technical and social support from this majority can increase production and more importantly their incomes. Thereby increasing their economic viability and resilience to unexpected shocks caused by climate change, or changes in markets. What is needed is a new insight into farming and if aquaculture and agriculture can be encouraged and the smallholder farmers can be given a step up the ladder then health and the accompanying happiness it brings will start to be enjoyed. I am personally particularly keen on providing some support in the education of small children, as these will be the farmers of tomorrow, and children given the right opportunities are like sponges they suck up information they are interested in. It is my belief that they too need to be encouraged and taught that nutritionally fish and vegetables in say aquaponics run on solar power might be a way forward. I also believe that African farmers above all need to be listened to, and allowed the opportunity to see for themselves that there is something interesting in aquaculture which is just another form of farming and which will give them some hope for the future and for their families future. Aquaculture and Agriculture need to be worked together and better breeding of indigenous crops with no till methods of farming will slowly improve the land again and improve the yields along with better aquaculture it’s a win win situation. Information needs to be passed on so that the mistakes that we have made are not repeated again. So thank you World Aquaculture Society for making this, their very first major step forward in making this happen, and helping the African nation.
Janice Spencer joined the Board of Directors for Aquaculture without frontiers in April 2016. She currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer.
10 | August 2017 - International Aquafeed