Panos Institute Southern Africa has encouraged rural communities to maximise on the opportunities presented by the Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project that the government is currently rolling out through the Department of Fisheries and the Citizens’ Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC).

The CEEC has announced that it is in the process of recruiting District Aquaculture Business Extension Officers to cover 30 districts.

The Commission also says it is offering business loans for the establishment of commercial fish hatcheries and commercial fish nurseries.

Panos Institute Southern Africa Executive Director Lilian Kiefer is of the view that this is a great boost to efforts to revive the fisheries sector that has in recent years been hard hit by the effects of climate change and unsustainable practices, resulting in massive depletion of fish stocks.

Ms Kiefer says Panos has been supporting fish farming under the Deepening Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) in Zambia project.

She says in her organization’s interaction with communities across Zambia, limited access to capital, limited extension services and lack of access to inputs such as fingerlings were identified as some of the biggest hindrances to the advancement of fish farming at community level.

She states that through the Deepening CBNRM project, Panos mobilised community members, raised their awareness and influenced them to adopt fish farming.

Ms Kiefer however lament that a lot of them could not sustainably run with the interventions because of challenges in accessing inputs.

The Panos Institute Southern Africa Executive Director has since encouraged community members in the districts where support for fish farming is being provided to get into fish farming on a sustainable scale.

She has also urged the government to ensure that community members in the selected districts access timely and accurate information to guide their venturing into fish farming.