The Integrated Irrigation-Aquaculture Workshop, organized by the FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF), was held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Accra, Ghana, from 20 to 21 September 1999. The Workshop was attended by 32 participants from the five participating countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Zambia). Other participants were from the FAO Headquarters, RAF Fisheries and Water Units, as well as observers from several other countries in the Region. There were also representatives of some international institutions with experience in networking, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture/Ecoregional Programme for Humid and Subhumid Tropics of Subsaharan Africa, the West African Rice Development Association/Inland Valley Consortium, the Regional Association for Irrigation and Drainage and the International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management. The list of participants is shown in Annex 1.
Mr Bamidele F. Dada, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, welcomed the participants to the Workshop. He observed that the FAO Special Programme for Food Security aims to increase food production in the Region. Integrated irrigation-aquaculture was a "marriage" to enhance efficiency of land and water use for food production, as water was often a limiting factor for many crops including fish. He further observed that lack of information for aquaculture generally, and on Integrated irrigation-aquaculture specifically, was a constraint Hence, the setting up of a network to facilitate information exchange and diffusion should be considered by the Workshop.
Mr Mike K.S. Akyeampong, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture of the Republic of Ghana, officially opened the Workshop. He highlighted the potential for expanded irrigation schemes in the country and the desirability of incorporating fish production units with them to help meet Ghana's high demand for fish.
