المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Comments from Norges Vel to HLPE Aquaculture and Fisheries 0 Draft Report

The report gives valuable input to the various issues analysed. The Royal Norwegian Society for Development (Norges Vel) agrees to the overall recommendations given.

1. We agree completely with the focus on SMEs for developing aquaculture. One has to focus on the whole value chain where SMEs are one of various actors to achieve lasting and significant developments. SMEs can be organized in business units such as a cooperative or AS/AS Ltd. They can include both medium scale and smaller farmers.

Through SMES, small and medium scale farmers can organize together to respond to local and regional market demands. They can access common input (fingerlings, fertilization/ feed, investments), technical knowledge and apply common quality standards and together ensure quality products and regular production. We believe SMEs can create work places, income increase and improved nutrition. They can create sustainable development of the sector.     

1. Can contributions be given to food security through production of fish for food and fish for sale? We agree that a careful balance needs to be struck between aquaculture of fish for sale and for own consumption. Production for sale will limit possibilities for own consumption, but might be achieved with consumption eg. of only smallest 10% of the fish reared in  aquaculture. The remaining part of produce is sold and generates profits in the SMEs. This is our experience from Madagascar.

In eg. MPAs, our experience from Madagascar shows that fishing can be reduced when aquaculture is promoted (time used for aquaculture limits time available for fishing, and aquaculture generates sufficient income to maintain fishing only at low level). With profitable aquaculture being carried out (in this case seaweed and sea cucumber farming for export) parallel to continuation of some local fishing – both income, food, export earnings and stock maintenance/ improvement is ensured.     

1. Food waste should be included in the report. We know that marine value chains are very vulnerable to production of food waste. Less food wasted equals more food available for food and poverty reduction from fish farming/ aquaculture. Since a report recently has been written on this theme, the main conclusions from the FAO report on food waste should be integrated into the present report. This will add a further dimension to the report.
2. We strongly support FAOs recommendation to look at the whole value chain to see women's position in fisheries and aquaculture. We believe in combining technical, entrepreneurial, financial and organizational training for both women and men through systems of Training of Trainers in order to reach out to more farmers and to strengthen their capacities in existing and new parts of the value chains as relevant.  We also fully agree to involving men and women in sensitization about cultural values and limitations for improving gender relations and women's participation, in order that specific plans/ strategies at local level can be elaborated by people themselves, and implemented based on local empowerment processes which need to continue through local organizations developed.
3. To succeed with the above, it is important that the governments provide an enabling environment: access to improved genetics as highlighted in the report, together with access to improved management and access to input for fertilisation/ feed is important, but also important is that the state gives the frameworks through relevant policies and laws for developing the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in close collaboration with local communities/ associations and SMEs in addition to larger companies in relevant value chains.
4. Savings and credit: After models for aquaculture are seen to be profitable – and only after this in practice – access to savings and credit must be ensured for relevant SMEs. This can promote further business development of the aquaculture sector.
5. Using seaweed and other marine ingredients for fish feed should be promoted – it is already used to a certain degree (eg. in Norway), but should be further investigated as much as possible. Large fish feed companies (eg. EWOS) already participate in pilots for testing IMTA in Norway, but there is a need of course to upscale to reach substantial amounts – it is also worked on in other regions – and could (should?) be an area to be assessed / worked more on also for developing countries. Norges Vel has successful experience from working in this area both in Norway (pilots) and internationally (seaweed cultivation for poverty reduction/ Madagascar – as done in Asia by a large amount of coastal people).

Norges Vel can contribute with more specific examples related to the comments here given if this is wished for.

Sincerely,

Anne Mugaas

Senior Advisor

The Royal Norwegian Society for Development