WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2023 27 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 28) food security. The project provided a proof of concept that laid the path for future projects. The second PPV project (PPV2) began in 2015 with expanded collaboration — four Bolivian organizations (CEPAC7, IMG8, CIDRE9 and Faunagua), two Canadian organizations (University of Victoria and WFT) and informal support from EMBRAPA and CEPTA in Brazil. The project focused on the scaling up of best practices for aquaculture and fisheries development that were identified in the first project, with an explicit focus on food security. The expanded partners filled key niches based on identified bottlenecks in the system. The IMG provided market analysis and development, CEPAC supported rural development and production growth and CIDRE led the development of micro-finance products designed explicitly for small-scale aquaculturists. The third PPV project (PPV Empowerment and Sustainability) began summer 2022 and consists of returning partners IMG, CEPAC and WFT, and a new partner, Royal Roads University of Victoria, BC, Canada. The focus is on supporting the continuing growth of the aquaculture sector by expanding to new regions and making it even more inclusive and empowering of women (Fig. 11). All three project have been funded by agencies of the Canadian government, specifically the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada and Global Affairs Canada. The effectiveness of the projects speaks to the importance of long-term commitments by major funders, the need to identify growth and improvement trajectories and the importance of collaboration with a broadly skilled team that can address specific areas of system development in need of expertise and innovation. The work of these NGOs has planted the seeds of aquaculture’s growth trajectory towards inclusive and sustainable rural development. Government Priority and Investment. An important contributing factor to the rise of aquaculture in central Bolivia is the macro-economic and social change the country has experienced over the last two decades. In 2005 Bolivia, the country with the largest indigenous population in the Americas, elected its first indigenous president. This set in motion a massive shift in governance priority towards traditional and culturally embedded economic activities. Coca growing was legalized in certain regions, rural areas were prioritized for development investment and eventually aquaculture came to be an area of focus. Although not as traditional as other agricultural activities, aquaculture’s potential to alleviate pressure on overfished rivers, its contribution to food security and nutrition, and its cultural connections to the Pachamama (an indigenous god similar to Mother Earth), as well as Christian scripture and traditions, all contributed to the growth of its popularity amongst both the people and the government. During this period, Bolivia experienced significant macro-economic growth as well, which was generally widespread among the population. This allowed farmers to invest and experiment with new livelihood options, raised incomes to a point where the small price premium of fish was not a barrier to consumption and grew the capacity of financial and government institutions to dedicate energy and make meaningful investments towards new activities such as aquaculture. Manifestations of this have been the creation of a national agency responsible for the growth of aquaculture (Institución Pública Desconcentrada de Pesca y Acuicultura; IPD PACU), the investment of millions of dollars into development activities and a production and processing plant by Bolivia’s governmental Food Production Support Company (EMAPA), and the expansion of financing for aquaculture through Ministry of Rural Development and Lands programs. It should be noted, though, that these commitments came after it was clear that central Bolivian aquaculture was already on a significant growth trajectory. Bolivia’s economic growth also increased rural people’s access to information, spurred in part by the rise of social media and the ubiquity of smart phones, which allowed knowledge of both aquaculture production and the value of fish for health to disseminate. These trends and investments highlight the importance for aquaculture development to be embedded in not only economic but socio-cultural elements of society. Ongoing and Emerging Challenges As aquaculture has grown in central Bolivia, the challenges the system has faced have shifted and evolved. A decade ago, challenges FIGURE 10. Peces Para La Vida Empowerment and Sustainability project logo. FIGURE 11. Water testing (Photo: Bartay-IDRC).
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