The lake is home to one of the continent's most successful producers, Yalelo © Yalelo
Zambia is one of the fastest growing aquaculture producer countries in Africa and, according to the event organisers, the World Aquaculture Society (WAS): “Thousands of delegates from around the world are expected to converge in Zambia, to celebrate achievements on all aspects of aquaculture development in Africa, but also to find solutions to some of the challenges hampering the growth of the sector, and to explore new opportunities. AFRAQ2023 will undoubtedly provide numerous educational, networking and collaboration opportunities.”
The host nation has recently launched its Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy 2022-2026, where the aquaculture sub-sector is expected to further contribute significantly to food and nutrition security, employment creation and foreign earnings through fish exports. The country has stepped up its efforts to create an enabling environment for private sector investments and is implementing a number of strategic public-private sector project activities to enhance and strengthen its aquaculture value chains.
According to the WAS, more and more institutions and organisations have recently expressed their interest to attend AFRAQ2023 at regional conferences on aquaculture in East Africa (Kenya) and West Africa (Nigeria) and also at WAS outreach events in Africa.
“Zambia’s visa and entry formalities are relatively less complex, as most countries are now eligible to either obtain a visa-on-arrival or apply for an e-visa prior to travelling. Zambia also has close bi-lateral relations with several countries from the Asia-Pacific region, most of which have provided capacity building and industry development support to the aquaculture sub-sector,” noted WAS.
An aquaculture tour is being organised to Siavonga, Lake Kariba – where a number of medium-to-large-scale aquaculture enterprises are based (including one of the largest aquaculture business in Africa, Yalelo. This is also where gold sponsor, Aller Aqua, has one of its biggest aquafeeds plant in Africa.
