WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2024 45 Capture fisheries and aquaculture paradigm shift Governments should collectively start building new perceptions of aquaculture and capture fisheries value chains for citizens to view them as employment opportunities that only require sound management. This can, for instance, be achieved by introducing fish farming training as an agribusiness entrepreneurship course in high schools and colleges. Career guidance programs should be provided to young people while they are in primary and high schools to change their perceptions towards venturing into smallholder fish farming value chains. Favorable policies and incentives Governments, in collaboration with traditional leaders in rural areas, should consider lowering transaction costs such as those for land acquisition (land titles) and water abstraction. This will promote youth access to land and their critical participation in aquaculture value chains. Women in fishing should also be protected and others encouraged to participate in the value chains by fostering gender equity through giving women priority. Modern infrastructure, training centers and production units There is a constant need to keep up with the pace of technology in terms of feed production, management of viable broodstock, and fingerling production. Equally, collaboration and partnerships between training centers and agro-investments in the aquaculture value chain should be promoted and strengthened through graduate trainee programs and stewardship. There is also a need for the rehabilitation and construction of modern infrastructure and road networks, as well as market centers, to improve the production, processing, value-addition, shelf-life and transportation of fish products. Closed-agroecology farming systems Integrated Agriculture and Aquaculture Systems (IAAS) improve household livelihood security by increasing water supply management and soil erosion control when incorporated with crop farming (such as soybeans) and poultry or small ruminants (such as chickens, goats, or sheep) within the same farm (Figure 3). Subsequently, the use of animal waste and wastewater from ponds can serve as fertilizers in an eco-friendly closed circular system of nutrients, especially if the waste is free from residues of antibiotics and hormonal drugs. The benefits of an integrated and dynamic agroecosystem were described by Atreya et al. (2021) when they studied Nepal’s traditional agroforestry systems (AFS). Conclusions Women and youths can sustainably bolster a country’s food security through participation in the aquaculture value chain. This review indicates that aquaculture has the potential to create employment opportunities for women and youths and alleviate food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. However, women and young people face barriers ranging from factors of production to cultural norms, as well as gaps in governments’ policies that prevent them from fully participating in the fish value chains. Similar barriers exist in each country, implying that solutions can be cross-border and upscaled in the SSA region. Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge their respective tertiary academic institutions, especially the lecturers and members of staff who contributed to the authors’ extension of knowledge in this field of science. Special appreciation goes to Prof. Kitaka Nzula and Dr. Ong’ondo Geoffrey at Egerton University, Prof. Geremew Akewake at Addis Ababa University and Dr. Mtethiwa Austin at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi. Notes Nkhoswe, James* Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi, University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Austria and Egerton University, Biological Sciences, Kenya. Sumeya Bader, Addis Ababa University, Zoological Sciences, Ethiopia and Egerton University, Biological Sciences, Kenya. Elizabeth Nyauchi, Egerton University, Biological Sciences, Kenya. Yordanos Lemma, Addis Ababa University, Zoological Sciences, Ethiopia and Egerton University, Biological Sciences, Kenya. * Corresponding author: jamesnkhoswe@gmail.com References Editor’s Note: hyperlinks are provided for most references in the text. Included here are those references without direct hyperlinks: Agricultural Consultative Forum (ACF)/ Food Security Research Project (FSRP). 2009. The Status of fish population in Zambia’s water bodies. Zambia National Farmers Union Congress. Mulungushi Conference Centre. Lusaka, Zambia. Byamugisha, F. and Y. Ansu. 2017. Securing land tenure and access for the youth to modernize African agriculture. In: 14-17 November 2017 Land Policy in Africa Conference. Addis Ababa, p. 14. Kassam, D. and A. Mtethiwa. 2017. Origin and status of carp farming in Malawi and the issues surrounding the ban on the fish. Advances in Fishery, Aquaculture and Hydrobiology 5:5–14 Mudenda, G. 2006. Economic perspectives of Aquaculture development strategy of Zambia. Consultant report. Development consultant. Lusaka, Zambia. Mwema, C., N. Mudege, M. Lundeba, B. Nankwenya, K. Kakwasha, M. Phiri, R. Basiita, and V. Siamudaala. 2021. A review of aquafeed business models and the feed value chain in Zambia and Malawi. Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish. Program Report: 2021-08. Njera, D. and C. Chonde, D. Kambewa, J. Dzanja, D. Kayambazinthu and E. Missanjo. 2017. Perceptions of smallscale fish farmers on Aquaculture development in Dowa and Mchinji Districts in Central Malawi. Journal of Basic and Applied Research International. 23. 151-160 Nkhoswe, J., C. Katongo, J. Graham, S. Janez and M. Sara. 2023. Challenges and prospects of small enterprise Aquaculture in climate resilience in Zambia’s WEF-nexus. UNESCO IHE Delft, Netherlands. Shiferaw, B., G. Obare and G. Muricho. 2009. Leveraging institutions for collective action to improve markets for smallholder producers in less-favored areas. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Vol 3 No 1.
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