1. Under its Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) seeks to reverse Africa's agricultural crises in the short-term by fostering economic growth in agriculture rooted in increased output productivity and efficiency and boosting its otherwise untapped comparative advantage. To allocate scarce financial resources efficiently under CAADP, agricultural products with a comparative advantage need to be identified, developed and traded with relatively little effort inside and outside Africa. Investments must have a high probability of commercial success, expected positive returns and economic viability.
2. Facing the growing importance of an integrated global and regional economic and trade system, Africa's sub-regions and countries need to promote their respective comparative advantages jointly. With this requirement in mind, this study is intended to:
identify by sub-region and country potentially competitive crop, livestock, forestry and fishery products that not only could meaningfully advance food security and reduce poverty on the African continent, but also significantly improve its world and intra-regional trade prospects.
identify broad areas of action and types of investment to develop selected potentially competitive products, based on the analysis of underlying agro-ecological and socio-economic constraints in each sub-region.
3. To take advantage of economies of scale and reach a critical mass that would drive productivity and income growth at both country and regional level, the identification of potentially competitive agricultural products was made by the main (five) agro-ecological sub-regions. These approximately coincide with the territories of the existing Regional Economic Groupings throughout Africa.
4. The present study is based on the stock of technical knowledge and experience accumulated by the FAO in Africa. In order to estimate the needed screening parameters of the potentially competitive agricultural products, FAO time-series country data over the period 1996-2000 were used for land use, animal stocks, production and productivity, trade and producer prices for the products under analysis. The concepts of comparative advantage and competitiveness served as the basis for the analysis and the selection of individual product's income-generation and export potential.
5. The selection of potentially competitive sub-regional crops/animal types was based on the production-cum-trade-opportunities criterion. This selection reflected not only each product's significance in production structure but also its trade potential. The relative importance (i.e. over five percent of each crop/animal type in the sub-region's total output expressed in world trade unit values) has been the screening indicator. Potentially competitive crops/types of animals that account for less than five percent of sub-regional total production but exceed five percent of a country's total output trade value, were designated potentially competitive 'country specific' crops/animal types. The comparison between the current production pattern at both sub-regional and country levels and that resulting from the screening against production-cum-trade-opportunities criterion was sometimes surprising. It is recognised however that there are other reasons that could lead to prioritization of a product for investment. Prolonged heavy dependence on imports could be one, e.g. rice in West Africa.
6. Because of inaccessible and/or incomplete time-series data for forestry/fisheries products by category, the natural endowment in forestry and fishery resources (by sub-region and country) has been the screening parameter. The identification of the potentially competitive sub-regions/countries for forestry development and wildlife conservation has been made based on the respective share of forests and woodland area in Africa's total. The area of a sub-region or country that lies within the Exclusive Economic Marine Zone (EEMZ) has been taken as a proxy indicator for the potential for marine fishery development.
7. An attempt was made to estimate both the technological and cost-competitiveness of crops. Because complete production - cost data were unavailable, producer price was used as a proxy indicator for assessing crop cost-competitiveness at the present technological level. Producer price is an appropriate proxy indicator because it is the observed revenue per unit of output received by farmers and it incorporates the underlying production cost. For export crops, world prices (expressed by FOB export prices) represent the benchmark that governments consider stimulating domestic production and exports. The difference between producer prices and world prices simultaneously incorporates the effects of a host of domestic factors that impacts crops and causes producer prices to diverge from world export prices. The lack of historical and more recent data on producer prices for crops in FAO Statistical Databases (FAOSTAT) constrained the price deferential analysis to the period 1991-1995.
8. The screening process led to the following potentially competitive crops at the sub-regional level. As expected, traditional export crops have high competitive potential for the respective sub-region (coffee for East Africa, cocoa and yams for Coastal West Africa and groundnuts for both Central and Sahel West Africa). Olives and wheat were selected as some of the potentially competitive crops for North Africa. Grapes, maize, sugar cane, vegetables and tobacco hold promise for expanding production and trade in Southern Africa. Millet, sorghum and groundnuts were identified as potentially competitive crops for Sahel West Africa.
9. The designation of potentially competitive crops differs, sometimes remarkably, from their actual share of land cover (indicating 'naturally suitability') at the sub-regional level. For instance:
Vegetables and fruits have an important economic role and trade potential in all sub-regions (except for fruits in Sahel West Africa), despite their relatively small share in the sub-regional land area. Surprisingly, in North Africa vegetables cover less than five percent of land area, though they represent as much as 44 percent of sub-regional output trade value. In Coastal West Africa, vegetables and fruits have been added to the list of sub-regional potentially competitive crops, eliminating maize, millet, rice and sorghum (which seem to find naturally suitable conditions in that part of Africa).
Rice was selected as a potentially competitive crop for Sahel West and Sahel Central Africa (Chad), though its production and trade potential is marginal (seven percent of sub-regional output trade value). In Chad, vegetables and rice outweigh seed cotton in terms of economic importance in the country's production (expressed in world trade values).
In Central Africa, coffee and cocoa's shares in sub-regional production (expressed in world trade values) do not surpass five percent, while both crops hold 17-18 percent in the sub-regional cropping pattern. Similarly, oil-palm fruit, maize and sorghum play a minor contribution in the sub-region's total output trade value, on average representing less than five percent, although their share in land area is two times larger.
Maize might have greater trade opportunities for East Africa when compared with other traditional staple crops (millet, sorghum and pulses), despite the latter group's importance in the sub-regional cropping pattern.
In Sahel West Africa, though fruits hold nearly 40 percent of sub-regional land area, rice and vegetables are potentially more competitive. (However, data inaccuracy might alter the results.)
10. Potentially competitive country-specific crops were selected when crops had a significant role in a country's (though not in the sub-regional) economy and trade. These crops are detailed below and require attention by the respective national governments.
In North Africa potentially competitive country-specific crops include: grapes (Algeria and Egypt); potatoes (Algeria); pulses (Mauritania); and rice (Egypt and Mauritania).
In East Africa potentially competitive country-specific crops include: pulses (Burundi, Tanzania); millet (Eritrea); potatoes (Eritrea); sugar cane (Kenya); sorghum (Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia); and wheat (Eritrea and Ethiopia).
In Central Africa potentially competitive country-specific crops include: cocoa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Saõ Tomé and Principé); coffee (Cameroon, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea); oil-palm fruit (Equatorial Guinea, Saõ Tomé and Principé and Central African Republic); sugar cane (Republic of Congo and Gabon); and sesame (Central African Republic).
In Coastal West Africa potentially competitive country-specific crops include: coffee (Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone); groundnuts (Guinea and Guinea-Bissau); oil-palm fruits (Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Liberia); and rice (Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Liberia).
In Sahel West Africa potentially competitive country-specific crops include: maize (in Burkina Faso, Mali and Cape Verde); seed cotton (in Burkina Faso and Mali); cassava (in Gambia, Senegal, Cape Verde and Niger); and fruits (in Senegal and Cape Verde).
In Southern Africa potentially competitive country-specific crops include: sunflower (Botswana); potatoes (Lesotho and Malawi); rice (Madagascar); millet (Namibia); and wheat (Lesotho).
11. Potentially competitive sub-regional animal types were selected according to the relative importance of a given animal type in the total sub-regional output (expressed in world export unit value). All animal types have comparative advantage to various degrees across sub-regions. Therefore, they warrant investment under NEPAD-CAADP. Potentially competitive country-specific animal types that have an important share in country's production (expressed in world export unit value) follow. Sheep were chosen for Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. In addition, chicken was selected as a country-specific animal type for Equatorial Guinea, Saõ Tomé and Principé, Gabon, Liberia, Mauritius and Zambia. Similarly, pigs were selected for Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Seychelles and Liberia. Because cattle raising is prevalent in the Sahel, dry southwest Africa, the Ethiopian highlands and East Africa, the continuation of measures to improve husbandry management and animal products market development is appropriate.
12. Potentially competitive sub-regions that should place high priority for investing in forestry development under NEPAD-CAADP are East Africa, Coastal West Africa, Central Africa (excluding Chad) and Southern Africa. Nearly every country in each sub-region has forest covering more than five percent of the sub-region's forest and woodland area and should intensify efforts to exploit the natural comparative advantage. However, South Africa's leading position in exporting high-value forest products originating mainly from plantation forests is a real world irony that undermines the concept of comparative advantage based on natural resource endowment.
13. Potentially competitive coastal sub-regions for marine fishery development were also selected. Due to the lack of comprehensive statistics in particular on the aquaculture subsector's current economic performance, only the marine fishery sector and its potential for development have been examined. Sub-regional potential for marine fishery development has been judged using the size and share of EEMZ in Africa's total as a screening indicator. The share of EEMZ varies widely among sub-regions, from 720 thousand square miles in Central Africa (5.5 percent) to 5.8 million square miles in Southern Africa (44 percent of Africa's total). All of the shares representing more than five percent of the total EEMZ have been designated for further investment under CAADP. In general countries contribute disproportionately to the sub-region's total marine production with respect to their share of EEMZ in the sub-region's total.
14. The empirical results of the sub-regional - world and leading countries' productivity differentials suggest that the large majority of crops (including fruit, vegetables, cassava, maize, millet, olives, rice, grapes, groundnuts, seed cotton and wheat) are not technologically competitive. Only coffee, cocoa, sugar cane, tobacco and yams are globally competitive sub-regional crops in terms of productivity. Therefore, a combination of two differentiated strategies, depending on the country's actual land productivity should be pursued: (1) substantial investment in production technologies and/or (2) substantial investment in value-addition technologies. In addition, development of political support to enhance trade between African sub-regions would also be beneficial, particularly for staple food crops. More analysis of the pattern of trade flows within Africa (among countries and sub-regions themselves) would therefore be instrumental to depict agricultural products that may be more easily and/or cheaply traded among African countries. In addition, regional policies, mechanisms and relevant institutions to enhance sub-regional and regional trade flows should be strengthened and implemented.
15. The empirical results of producer - world price divergence analysis confirmed that in most cases African producers receive very little compared with the prevailing world price and their competitors. The African producers of cocoa, coffee (except Liberia), groundnuts (except Gabon), maize (except Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia), olives, rice (except Gambia and Liberia) and sunflower have received only a small fraction of the world prices. Cassava producers (in all Coastal West African countries except Liberia and Nigeria) have also been 'taxed' to various degrees. Although their competitors have obtained a price somewhat inferior to the world price, most of these competitors have been much more profitable primarily because of their higher productivity and economies of scale in production, marketing and trade. The 'taxation' level, however, varies widely among crops and countries alike.
16. In reality, producer productivity and efficiency are not the sole ingredients of competitiveness. The analysis of constraints to sustained agricultural output growth and dynamic trade emphasized that the low level of competitiveness in African countries (despite rich natural endowments) is principally the result of the precarious state of the prevailing economic, social and political conditions. The main characteristics of these conditions under which African farmers operate and trade, include the following:
heavy dependence of the agricultural sector on the weather.
prevalence of small holdings in African agriculture - seldom exceeding five ha and often less than one ha - is an additional structural limitation. This situation hampers the long-term capacity of producers to competitively expand output and export volumes.
an impoverished and illiterate workforce with no access to information, education and health services. This population is overwhelmed, in some countries, by civil strife and disease outbreaks, particularly the HIV/AIDS.
weak public institutions of governance as a result of policy reforms (under the structural adjustment and macro-economic stabilization programmes that overlooked serious institutional deficiencies), translating into high transaction costs that prevent the private sector to emerge and grow.
persistent problems (related to post-harvest losses due to backward technologies, inadequate storage facilities, lack of packing materials and appropriate processing capacity) compromising the value-added advantage and productivity of both small and large-scale processors. The latter face an insufficient and disrupted supply of raw material as a result of the scattered nature of farming.
the poor state of rural infrastructure denying most rural households access to markets and failing to effectively link the production - trade commodity chain. The situation is especially critical for the landlocked countries, whose poorly integrated and inefficient transport systems have had a crippling effect on the African countries' trade competitiveness. For a number of landlocked African countries transport and insurance represent more than 30 percent of the total value of exports (more than 50 percent in Malawi, Chad and Rwanda).
low priority being given to issues pertaining to the production of knowledge and its dissemination to end-users. Moreover, many countries in the region suffer from an export-crop bias, dating back to the colonial era when resources for agricultural research emphasized export crops at the cost of indigenous food crops. As a result, Africa has lagged behind most other developing regions in generating improved varieties and technologies that are locally adaptable.
accelerated human-induced degradation of natural resources including desertification, particularly in Sahel, due to the overexploitation of cropland, the overgrazing of rangelands, deforestation and poor water management.
limited availability of usable freshwater resources in many parts of Africa, which face extreme climatic variability on an annual and/or seasonal basis. Because irrigated agriculture is the principal user of surface and groundwater resources, optimal management of water resources for all consumers (agricultural, industrial and private) should be a priority. At the same time the integrity and productivity of natural ecosystems should be maintained. In general agricultural production is constrained by the small role played by irrigated agriculture. Irrigated land is a very small share of arable land (only 7 percent of arable African land and 3.7 percent of arable land in Sub-Saharan Africa). These are the lowest percentages of irrigated land in the developing world.
17. The diversity of Africa's sub-regions owing to variations in resource endowments, levels of economic and social development, challenges and opportunities makes it impossible to prescribe a homogeneous approach to upgrade competitiveness in agriculture. To address the issues of low productivity and efficiency in agriculture, it is essential, therefore, to highlight the elements of sub-regional differences in terms of their resource base and to identify key land and water constraints to development specific to each sub-region. These key constraints are summarized below.
In North Africa:
- water scarcity due to poor water management that induces unsustainable water withdrawal rates that exceed the water renewal capacities of the Nile and Senegal rivers;
- soil degradation due to excessive irrigation;
- lack of policies for an integrated crop-livestock system;
- climate change and unsustainable population growth pressures on agricultural land;
- high population density that is mainly in rain-fed areas.
In East Africa (including Horn of Africa):
- decreasing soil fertility due to low intensification and diversification;
- inadequate technology use owing mainly to the scarcity of capital and the undeveloped input and output markets;
- political isolation of remote smallholders;
- water scarcity and deteriorating water quality due to the drying up of rivers, underground aquifers and small reservoirs, leading to the death of livestock and increased competition among users over water rights;
- severe erosion of steep lands off the plateaux.
In Central Africa:
- advanced land degradation (and, in Chad, advanced desertification) due mainly to fertility loss from over-cultivation without sufficient fallow periods and a lack of inputs.
- mismanagement of water resources, leading to increased pollution levels in fresh water mainly from industry and sewage outflows, agricultural run-off and saltwater intrusion.
In West Africa:
- soil degradation from fertility loss, advanced desertification and poorly maintained irrigation schemes.
- mismanagement of water resources due to an absence of effective cross-border oversight and coordinating mechanisms for shared water resources, as well as a lack of standards and enforcement of laws.
In Southern Africa:
- worsening levels of soil degradation because of increasing population-growth pressures and overgrazing, as well as the prohibitive costs of irrigation and conflicts over land use.
- deterioration of water quality caused by the increasing pressure of human and animal populations on water resources.
18. The major cross-cutting challenges to the economic growth of the forestry and wildlife sector, which are relevant across African sub-regions, are the following:
poorly established markets for many forestry products and a limited capacity to convert resources into exportable high-value products;
a biased concentration of capital that works against rural dwellers, placing them at a disadvantage in terms of growth and social development;
the predominance of a dynamic informal sector that has no institutional visibility;
the low capacity of local and mid-level government and community institutions to manage resources optimally, particularly for activities that add economic value.
19. The main issues, threats and opportunities for forestry and wildlife development that are specific to sub-regions are summarized below according to the main forestry agro-ecological zones.
In the Humid Forests in Coastal West and Central Africa:
- increasing population combined with unsustainable shifting cultivation and irrational industrial harvesting;
- unclear and ambiguous tree and forest tenure systems;
- weak governance and regulatory systems, particularly in remote areas, with no formal management arrangements for potentially lucrative non-timber forest products. These remain largely available for household and wider society consumption and trade. Only industrial timber production is traditionally administered.
In the Eastern and Southern African Middle Plateaux (woodlands):
- low and variable rainfall, as well as a long dry season. Both of these conditions limit surface water and soil moisture and encourage migration of animals and people.
- predominance of poor soils that limit nutrient availability;
- frequent fires as a result of climate and human activities;
- human habitation in the woodlands, albeit at low population densities, for centuries;
- high incidence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with several countries having among the highest infection rates in the world.
In the Eastern and Southern African plateaux and highlands:
- either an overabundance or a lack of water, which is frequently of poor quality. The results can lead to flash flooding, erosion, landslides and soil leaching its nutrients, which can limit or curtail biological productivity and impact human health. The contribution of forestry to water source protection is probably the most important developmental issue in the African Plateaux.
- endemic centres in many highland areas of Africa. Africa is believed to be the natural home of wheat and coffee, to name just a few of the crops important to mankind with African origins.
- successful industrial plantations. South Africa, a generally dry country with insignificant natural forests, is the leading exporter of forest products, which are derived from forest plantations in the highlands. The country accounts for 79 percent of African wood pulp production and 71 percent of African wood pulp exports. It produced 71 percent of African paper and paperboard and accounted for 94 percent of their exports (as of 2000). South Africa's production and trade competitiveness diverges strikingly from its very limited endowment of natural forests. Plantations also support paper industries in Kenya and Tanzania and other wood processing industries in Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
20. Marine fisheries remain very important as a source of food, employment and revenue in many countries and communities in Africa. Fish proteins are essential and critical especially for the diet of inhabitants in densely populated countries, where the total protein-intake level may be low. The number of under-exploited and moderately exploited resources continues to decline as fishing demands increase. Interest is growing about the impact fishing may have on ecosystems, their structure and function. Contemporary small-scale fishing communities predominantly practice artisanal-level exploitation of fish resources and share serious obstacles to development. They usually share the following characteristics across Africa's marine ecosystems:
They are geographically scattered along coastlines and depend mainly on marine ecosystems that are close to home, which makes them particularly vulnerable to resource depletion.
They undertake small-scale capital commitments, which result in low production levels that do not empower the community. Community-based management is often weak and makes the artisanal fishery sector vulnerable to external threats, especially the large-scale fishing sector.
They have limited or no access to credit and insurance, which constrains fishing effort and production. By contrast, competing foreign fleets include many operators that enjoy heavy state subsidies from their governments.
They face huge losses because of poor post-harvest processing. Poor handling and food safety issues remain important, and standards have become increasingly stringent for export products.
They are increasingly pressured by external problems, including expanding globalization, marine pollution and, in some regions, the growth of a coastal tourism industry.
21. Two major classes of constraints would need to be addressed for marine fishery development. They are summarized below.
Fishery management is widely considered to be ineffective, and conflicts are becoming more frequent among user groups. Conflict between industrial and artisanal fleets is common. Regional management is particularly valuable when fisheries have a large foreign component. Because of the need to share information on foreign fleets, regional fishery-management bodies have an important role to play in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Public institutions are critically short of human and financial resources. For most coastal countries in Africa food security, employment, poverty alleviation and equitable access to resources are seen as priority concerns. However, solutions often are not realized because programmes are not adequately designed or supported.
22. In order to improve competitiveness and investment profitably in agriculture throughout the continent under CAADP, major cross-cutting directions of priority action that apply to all African countries (together with specific sub-regional actions) were identified. These are summarized below.
The region's overriding priority is to improve infrastructure (water and sanitation, transportation, storage and processing, energy, information technology and communication). This improvement is vital in order to accomplish the following. It is hoped that improvements would help to achieve increased agricultural production and productivity sustainably for food security and income enhancement. In addition, it is hoped to improve efficiency and reduce costs to reach markets for agricultural inputs and production. At the same time, such improvements could reduce physical barriers to and lower the costs of extra-and intra-regional trade, particularly the overly high costs incurred by land-locked countries on their imports and exports. It is also hoped that these improvement would facilitate the reduction of post-harvest and storage losses that plague many farmers and produce traders. Finally, adding value to the primary product output and improving access to market information that is instrumental for modern trade would be necessary. Development policies and measures should be transparent and designed by all involved stakeholders in agriculture, forestry, fishery, agribusiness and trade to increase a sense of policy ownership, effectiveness and efficiency.
To ensure sustainable natural resource utilization governments first need to develop a strategic framework for expanding cultivable areas. There is a substantial potential for developing the continent's land, water and human resources and achieving prominence in agriculture. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an appropriate evaluation of the effective new land availability. This is important to determine the lands' suitability for crops and to develop a strategic framework for expanding cultivable areas. Second, governments must embrace a holistic vision in natural resource-base management based on scientific results. The development of these 'priority products' in Africa should be grounded in scientific research, which should consider the technological needs of producers. Governments should place emphasis on technological development and its extension to ensure rapid adoption by producers. Increasingly, extension services cannot be separated by discipline or sector, but must be regarded as part of the integrated rural economy that incorporates agriculture, livestock husbandry and other sectors.
Coping with increased global market competititiveness also presents an important policy challenge to Africa. Concrete actions regarding trade facilitation, market access and market integration by the African countries will therefore be required in order to transform trade into a powerful engine for growth and poverty eradication, and to draw benefits from globalization. The basic elements and priorities of such strategies, would need to include promoting intra-regional trade and diversifying production and trade. Other necessary elements would be the raising and harmonizing of food safety and quality standards that are necessary for meeting international standards. Finally, strategies must require improving access to foreign markets and strengthening trade-related supply capacity.
23. Broad sub-regionally specific areas of intervention aimed at alleviating land and water constraints in crop and animal production are summarized below.
In North Africa the design of a complex programme to desalinate brackish water and a master plan for soil and water conservation to make major improvements in national water balances are important.
In East Africa improving agricultural services available to remote smallholder agriculture is vital. Remote smallholders need to be involved more frequently in policy debate in order to improve priority-options development, household welfare and food security.
In Central Africa actions and programmes need to be implemented to manage water resources, fresh-water quality and soil fertility more effectively. Effort is needed to battle the effects of deforestation (and advanced desertification in Chad).
In West Africa several actions are recommended. The first is the combination of tree use (particularly those that are a source of income), food crops, fertilizers and conservation agriculture (with zero or minimum tillage) to improve soil fertility. Second, land-tenure system reform should be carried out. Third, the creation of incentives for farmers to invest in land-fertility improvement and to establish cooperatives is important. Finally, investment should be made in market outlets.
In Southern Africa access to water and advanced technologies, as well as institutional capacity building, should be priorities to enhance the productivity of small-scale farming. The employment of rigorous sustainable water management is also important for countries facing water scarcity and suffering from variable rainfall, such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Namibia.
24. Forestry on its own has shown limited effectiveness in alleviating poverty. Instead, forestry might be a component of wider production efforts to address poverty eradication and environmental stability. Reversing the current trends in forest-resource depletion and degradation is vital, especially through protecting and improving watersheds, combating desertification, preventing land degradation and conserving biological diversity. The biological richness of the humid African forests also requires critical attention in economic development planning. With appropriate development and marketing, forests may be able to generate more value per unit area from 'niche-markets' for important crop varieties. It is necessary to identify and exploit commercial and local economic opportunities based on 'niche products', while making industrial harvesting and forest regeneration compatible with biodiversity protection. Export of forest products as unprocessed logs may also be exporting jobs and future prosperity. Future research studies should lead to:
the identification of wild relatives for key agricultural crops and optimal methods to conserve important crop sources. This is critical because land-use pressures threaten the natural varieties with extinction. Unique animal species also deserve to have their highland habitats preserved.
the identification and promotion of the commercial potential for other plants or value-added plant products with potential for use as food or medicine. Priority should be placed on plants whose potential use is already known. Little investment has been made in technology development (either by domestic or foreign sources) to convert this potential into reality.
the development of policy and institutional capacity of national and sub-regional research entities and networks to undertake these tasks.
25. Marine fishery development could be facilitated in many ways. In this connection, the close monitoring of the impact fishery-management measures have on the economic performance of the fishery sub-industries is important. In addition, a careful observation of the impact of subsidies, economic incentives and fiscal policies and measures should be made. Furthermore, the design and implementation of special efforts to protect the artisanal fishery sector should be carried out. Increased community participation in artisanal fisheries development (from planning to financial aspects) is vital to these efforts, as is improved handling and processing technologies. Finally, conflict resolution between industrial and artisanal fleets and strengthening regional fishery-management organizations, as well as making them more efficient, are important aims.