Engaging the youth in aquatic food systems

Experts say that aquatic food systems have the potential to provide livelihood opportunities for youth as the globe becomes entangled with the unemployment crisis, but challenges remain for the former to join the sector.

They suppose that multisector initiatives to improve access to training and finance as well as promote digital innovation are key to improving the participation of youth in fisheries, aquaculture and associated value chains.

Dr Abdul Mohamed, an expert in aquaculture based in Zanzibar, has it that as youth unemployment rises, stringent and speedy actions are needed to make aquatic food systems attract youth and provide them with enriching livelihood opportunities.

About 800,000 graduates enter the job market every year, and most of them either end up jobless or get stuck in informal and less secure jobs.

“Although aquatic food systems provide livelihood opportunities for the engagement and employment of young people, youth don’t perceive aquatic food systems as appealing as it is seen as a traditional and labour-intensive activity which generates lower profits,” he tells Success.

Thus, he notes, there is a need to raise awareness of the venture’s profitability through training, social media campaigns and the introduction of food technologies.

However, he mentions funding as being the only obstacle, noting that aquatic food system livelihoods can be capital intensive and the youth often do not possess the funding capabilities to independently make their start or repay bank loans before their first harvest.

“It’s time for state and non-state actors in finance to develop pro-youth payment initiatives that are fair and that consider production and harvest cycles or initiate projects that would encourage the youth to tap into the opportunity,” he suggests.

However, things are already changing as more than 700 young people in Rungwe District in Mbeya Region, are already engaged in the trade, thanks to the World Bank’s Skills Development Fund (SDF) project which employs modern fish farming technologies as one of the ways to mitigate youth unemployment.

The project focuses on funding and training on skills through the SDF grant, thus encouraging more youth and women to tap into aquaculture opportunities in the district.

One of the project beneficiaries, Pius Nyambacha, who owns a company, RiverBanks Fish Farms, started fish farming ten years ago. He was initially using local methods on his farm and so it was not profitable.

He explains that, through the SDF grant, his company received Sh131.2 million in funding which enabled him to train more people on fish farming as well as improve the infrastructure for the production and rearing of fish on his farm .

He was also able to improve and build an office, buy modern farming equipment as well as conduct training for more than 400 youth and women from various areas of Rungwe District.

“The goal was to provide training and education on fish farming to 400 people, but due to the great response, we managed to train 427 people in a period of three months,” says Nyambacha.

The fund, part of the Education and Skills for Productive Jobs programme and the National Skills Development Strategy aims to equip youth with employability skills to manoeuvre the unemployment scourge.

“After capacity building and SDF funding, I have managed to create jobs for 729 Tanzanians, but also my fish production has increased to 600 kilos in nine months’ time,” Nyambacha says, when briefing managers and sponsors of the project last week.

According to the director general of the Tanzania Education Authority, which is in charge of the implementation of the project, Bahati Geuzye, the primary goal of SDF is to enable Tanzanian youth to acquire skills that will enable them to either be employed or self-employed.

“The SDF fund aims to finance training to develop skills for Tanzanians in six sectors of the economy; agriculture and agribusiness, tourism and hospitality services, transport, construction, Information and Communication Technology and energy,” he explains to Success.

Going digital

Adopting the use of digital tools in aquatic food systems is an important initiative to attract the youth to join the sector, says Dr Monica Chacha, a fish entrepreneur based in Mwanza.

She says the youth may be more willing to participate after digitalisation as it will change the perception and reality of aquatic food system livelihoods being labour-intensive and of low-returns.

Currently, she notes, “Such digital tools do exist but are not widely adopted by older or less tech-savvy farmers.”

“As young innovators, youth can leverage mobile apps, digital tools, technology and other information communication technologies to increase their value and contribution in the supply chain,” she believes.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (Fao)’s 2020 report on aquatic farming shows there is increased depletion of wild fish stocks globally, where fish is an important source of protein.

Fastest growing sector

Aquaculture has been one of the fastest-growing food sectors in agriculture globally and has produced more fish for human consumption than wild-caught fish, the report notes.

It says that the sustaining increase in aquaculture has been positively influenced by new technological developments where there is a pressing need to find appropriate solutions to meet the growing world population that will reach approximately 10 billion by 2050.

“Our youth need to be helped so that as a country we can benefit from the abundant water resources that we have. The World Bank financing clearly shows that financial institutions in the country can help more as well,” Monica says.

For his part, Joseph Otieno, who dreams of starting a fish farming business, says what stops most interested youth is access to modern equipment.

“The thing is when in college we had such equipment, after graduating we find ourselves without the capital or money to buy the necessary equipment as well as seeds. That’s why many of us decide to look for other things that are easier to do,” he explains.

Need for financial support

However, Otieno wishes to see the private sector supporting the youth to become self-employed through farming even in rural areas as there are great opportunities, while he commends the SDF for empowering many young people through different projects.

“I knew about the SDF through my friend who is a businessman here in Dar es Salaam. At the moment, this friend of mine does not need to be employed because the training he received has enabled him to employ himself,” he says.

Dr Mohamed, the Zanzibar-based aquaculture expert explains that despite the employment challenge, what makes him happy is the fact that the ministry of education has been making efforts to lessen the burden. He is pleased to see that educational institutions in the country, guided by the ministry have continued to find solutions by empowering young people to be self-employed.

“Despite the fact that the ministry of education is currently working on the review of the 2014 education policy and curriculum, I still like the way it has continued to look for donors to build the capacity of our young people even at the lower levels such as vocational training centres...,” he notes.