This submission highlights the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Project activities in Zambia for the period 2018 to 2020. The project was an initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) through WorldFish which was aimed at disseminating and upscaling aquaculture technologies across Africa to increase the productivity and income of fish farmers, increase fish protein consumption and enhance sustainability across the aquaculture value chain. Zambia was one of the focal Country of the ten (10) African countries in which the TAAT activities were implemented. The activities of the compact centred on the use of hapas in the production of tilapia mono sex fingerlings, use of fish feeds, fish processing using improved solar dryers and smoking kilns for improved fish productivity. Mukasa Agrosolutions which operates a fish hatchery based in Kabwe in the Central part of the country was identified as national demonstrator of the use of hapas in the improvement of the fingerings production.
The use of hapas increased the sex reversal rate from 90% to 98%. This is because the technology enhanced the oral treatment and administering of methyl testosterone (MT). Consequently, the production capacity of the fish hatchery increased from 360,000 in 2018 to 3 million fingerings annually by the end of 2020.
The TAAT impacted youths and women in Zambia positively as it demonstrated that with the utilisation of the technologies that aquaculture is a viable business for them to engage in. The programme has managed to reach to 2,140 youths and women who work on fish nutrition improvement interventions which has helped them improve their revenue base. A total of 250 fish farms and fish value addition businesses have since been established by the trained youths and women resulting into the creation of approximately 10,000 jobs both indirect and direct within fish value chain.