In 1992-93, FAO launched a regional study on aquaculture development and research in Sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa and the European Union. As part of the Study on International Fisheries Research, a synthesis of the information obtained from 12 national reviews on development and research needs provided the basis for an indicative Action Plan for Aquaculture Research in Sub-Saharan Africa (Coche, Haight and Vincke, 1994 and 1996). This Plan consisted of eight priority research programmes to be supported by an Aquatic Systems Information Network, among which "Aquaculture in irrigation schemes" was one of the proposed research programmes. The Plan was adopted at the Second Session of the Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa (CIFA) Working Party on Aquaculture in late 1993.
From 1995, the FAO Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) began to be implemented in the field. Irrigation Irrigation is a major element is a centre piece of SPFS and in and in several African countries, aquaculture is already included under the Programme's diversification component (van der Mheen, 1996, 1997 and 1999).
In July 1997, a seminar was organized by RAFI within the framework of the CIFA Subcommittee for the Protection and Development of the Fisheries in the Sahelian Zone. Among the recommendations of this Seminar, participants agreed that:
In October 1997, as a follow-up to the above activities, the Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service of the FAO Fisheries Department organized an identification mission in Sub-Saharan Africa, to Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Coche, 1998), with the following objectives:
- To visit some of the existing research institutions previously identified as potential contributors to a research network on IIA.
- To assess the possibilities of establishing an IIA network.
The mission recommended the organization of a workshop as a first step for the establishment of a regional IIA Network, to define its goal, objectives, context of operation and structure. The present Workshop is a result of this recommendation.
