The FAO Fisheries Department is concerned that Governments hardly consider the fisheries sector in the process of policy and strategy formulation for rural development and that fisheries and aquaculture are not seen as relevant in the context of poverty alleviation. Given the continuing importance of poverty alleviation programmes, particularly in Africa, it was decided to study "Why capture fisheries and aquaculture are included in some poverty reduction programmes and not in others". The two main research questions addressed under the study were the following: Is the fisheries sector included in the national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), the Country Strategy Papers of the European Union (EU) and other National Development Plans? Why is the sector (not) included?
This Circular represents the findings of a desk study carried out between June 2003 and February 2004 by Drs Andy Thorpe of the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). The author was supported in his work by Dr Chris Reid and Denis Becker of the same university. The study was initiated by Raymon van Anrooy and Rolf Willmann of the FAO Development Planning Service (FIPP) and was only made possible with the valuable financial and technical inputs of the Department for International Development (DFID)-funded Sustainable Fisheries Livelihood Programme (SFLP), and particularly of Benoît Horemans, Richard Coutts and Fabio Pittaluga of this programme. The assistance of Ulf Wijkström, Chief, FIPP and the comments made by various participants at an internal FAO seminar on 20 March 2004 are greatly acknowledged by the author.
Distribution:
FAO Members and associate members
Other interested nations
and national and international organizations
FAO Fisheries Department
FAO
Regional and Subregional Offices
