Africa's food future does not depend on land alone but also on its waters

Across Africa, demand for aquatic foods is increasing as the population grows. Yet, supply is struggling to keep pace.

This matters because aquatic foods are not a niche product in Africa. They are an important source of food, livelihoods and trade.

According to the latest edition of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Mombasa, Kenya, aquatic animal foods provide 19 per cent of animal protein available across the continent, which is the second highest share globally compared to other regions.

In some countries and communities, particularly along coasts, rivers and lakes, that contribution is even higher. Yet, Africa has the lowest per capita availability of aquatic animal foods in the world, 9.2kg per person per year, half of the global average.

This highlights a challenge: aquatic foods are key to food security and nutrition in Africa, but availability is struggling to keep pace with demand.

For too long, discussions about Africa’s food security primarily focused on land-based agriculture. Crops and livestock are and will remain important, but Africa’s blue economy, including oceans, lakes and rivers, is increasingly important and deserves greater strategic attention.

Sustainable wild capture fisheries are indispensable for a sustainable blue economy. They account for 54 per cent of global aquatic animal production, while inland fisheries feed and nourish millions.

Across the Great Lakes region, the Niger basin, the Congo basin, and countless freshwater systems, inland fisheries provide affordable nutrition where alternatives are often limited and support millions of jobs across the value chain in rural communities.

But capture fisheries alone cannot nourish Africa’s future food needs. However, wild fish stocks have biological limits, and many are already under pressure.

At the same time, Africa’s population continues to grow faster than any other region in the world. According to the FAO, Africa’s aquatic food production must grow by seven per cent by 2050 to ensure current per capita availability of aquatic foods.

Unless action is taken, supply growth will not keep up with production increases, reducing per capita availability and thus adding pressure to other food systems.

Even today, Africa relies on imported aquatic animal products to support domestic availability. The continent is a net importer of aquatic products by volume (measured in product weight).

As the population grows and fish prices remain under pressure, the question of affordable protein is becoming urgent. This is where aquaculture can offer a solution.

Aquaculture, the farming of fish and other aquatic animals, is the fastest-growing food production sector globally, and Africa is leading this growth rate.

Since 2000, aquaculture production on the continent has grown by an average of almost eight per cent annually, but despite this, the continent still produces only 2.3 per cent of global animal aquaculture production.

This underscores the potential in the continent, as aquaculture accounts for only 18 per cent of Africa’s total aquatic animal production.

Countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia are demonstrating what is possible. Egypt alone produces two-thirds of Africa’s farmed fish.

But apart from a few other countries, the sector’s potential remains largely untapped. Small-scale producers, the backbone of production in many countries, still struggle to access the financial and technical support to expand their output.

Closing this gap will require that governments treat fisheries and aquaculture and the broader ocean economy as strategic sectors linked to food security, employment and economic resilience in line with the ambitions of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

This means investing in research, improving aquaculture seed and feed supply systems, strengthening extension services and creating enabling policy environments that encourage private sector investments.

It also means strengthening the management of inland and marine fisheries, which remain essential for nutrition, livelihoods and local economies across the continent.

But the challenge now is not simply to increase production. Africa also has an opportunity to build aquatic food systems that are more inclusive, resilient and sustainable.

The continent still has time to avoid some of the environmental mistakes seen elsewhere, for example, by promoting efficient aquaculture systems based on responsible water use, strong biosecurity and better spatial planning from the outset.

The stakes are high. Failure to act will deepen the gap between demand and availability, increasing reliance on imports and placing even greater pressure on already stressed resources.

But with the right policies and investments, aquatic foods could become one of Africa’s strongest tools to fight malnutrition, creating jobs and building more resilient food systems, which is what the FAO Blue Transformation programme and roadmap are promoting.

What comes from the ocean, rivers, and lakes will determine the continent’s economic and nutritional future. 

- Abebe Haile-Gabriel is the FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, while Prof Manuel Barange is the Assistant Director-General and Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division at FAO