© WorldFish
The move aims to cement Egypt’s role on the African continent as a leading producer of aquatic foods and a hub for cutting-edge research in sustainable aquaculture.
The international research centre for aquatic food systems has been hosted in the country since 1997. WorldFish has been an integral part of Egypt’s journey in becoming a powerhouse of aquaculture production, increasing it 12-fold in 25 years and opening an avenue for job creation, income generation and economic growth.
“It is important for Egypt to drive more investments in its aquaculture sector in Egypt and Africa. In working with WorldFish, we can develop an integrated action plan for developing the sector, as the center brings scientific expertise that can raise the efficiency of producers and help Egypt’s producers achieve global standards, necessary to connect to foreign markets,” said Minister Farouk at the signing ceremony held on 4 December in Cairo.
Advancing climate-smart aquaculture
At the heart of Egypt and WorldFish’s collaboration is WorldFish’s Abbassa Research and Training Center, a hub for climate-smart aquaculture research, training and capacity building. The center leverages a systems approach, focusing its research on enhancing Nile tilapia performance, feed, fish health and strengthening the market systems, so they are inclusive of women.
A breakthrough innovation from the centre has been the Abbassa strain of Nile tilapia that reduced environmental impact by 36 percent while growing up to 28 percent faster, enabling Egypt to sustainably intensify its fish production. Today, the Abbassa strain is providing a solution to develop aquaculture in arid regions.
“WorldFish is honoured to be hosted by Egypt for another 25 years, cementing our longstanding collaboration. WorldFish is committed to work with Egypt and to bring its cross-cutting scientific expertise that can help the country and the wider region unlock the many benefits of sustainable aquaculture and related value chains – strengthening nutrition, women empowerment and economic growth,” said Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed, WorldFish director general, in a press release.
Since 1999, the Abbassa centre has delivered training programmes to more than 15,000 stakeholders from over 100 countries, including women retailers, youth, extension officers, and farmers. This work has been conducted in collaboration with the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture and the Soy Excellence Centre of the US Soybean Export Council.
Future plans for Egypt’s aquaculture sector
Future plans for the collaboration include the continued the genetic improvement of tilapia and reaching 35 percent of tilapia farms with the improved Abbasa strain, sustainable and cost-effective fish feed, renewable energy technologies in the fish value chain and certification of fish farms for export requirements.
Also present at the signing were Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Mostafa El Sayad; President of the Agriculture Research Centre Adel AbdElazeem; and Salah Moselhy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lakes and Fish Resources Protection and Development Authority.
