The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), works to reduce poverty and improve nutrition, food security, and livelihoods in partner countries by supporting research on sustainable aquatic food systems. The Fish Innovation Lab is managed by the Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security at Mississippi State University. It is one of 16 Feed the Future Innovation Labs which are leveraging the expertise of U.S. universities and developing country research institutions to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges in agriculture and food security.
The Fish Innovation Lab supports research and capacity-building activities targeting three program areas: climate-smart aquatic system innovations, nutrition and food systems, and inclusive access to improved inputs. To enhance the development impact of Fish Innovation Lab research, each funded activity is also expected to incorporate cross-cutting themes related to gender equity and social inclusion, resilience, and capacity development.
From 2018-2023, the Fish Innovation Lab supported 24 research activities, 15 of which were in Africa: Ghana (1), Kenya (3), Nigeria (6), and Zambia (5). The lab also supported work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and a four-country study across Madagascar, the Pacific Islands, Peru, and the Philippines. The Fish Innovation Lab received a 5-year extension in 2023, and in 2024, it launched six 1-year Startup and Scaling Activities in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. These activities aim to scale up work funded during the first 5-year phase and identify new approaches to improve sustainable aquaculture and fisheries. Following a competitive selection process, the Fish Innovation Lab anticipates awarding 14 additional activities in 2025.
Fish Innovation Lab activities in Africa have addressed major issues in aquaculture and fisheries. In Nigeria, teams investigated different ways to improve aquaculture production and provide better quality fish products to consumers. New work in Nigeria aims to assess fish supply from inland water bodies and potential impacts from climate change. In Kenya and Ghana, teams worked to improve the sustainability of local fisheries and provide nutrition training and information to promote consumption of aquatic foods for better nutrition amongst fishers, mothers, and children. Recently launched activities in Kenya will analyze fish health and antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture and use climate-smart solutions to integrate agriculture and aquaculture. Activities in Zambia captured a wide range of work, from fish vaccine development to reduce aquaculture losses to assessing population ecology and current distribution of introduced invasive crayfish. Additionally, ongoing work in Zambia developed and is now scaling a dried fish powder along with recipes for enhanced nutrition, particularly benefiting mothers and infants in vulnerable households.
To learn more about the activities of the Fish Innovation Lab, visit our website at https://rb.gy/j17i6.