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The World Aquaculture Society (WAS) has awarded Blessing Mapfumo, a Zimbabwean based in South Africa, with the Africa Honorary Award 2024, an award which is “conferred upon an identified individual who has made a longstanding and significant contribution within the WAS”.
Mr. Mapfumo, a long-serving aquaculture professional, led the establishment of the WAS African Chapter from scratch in 2018, successfully operationalizing it to this day.
In addition to many other societal deliverables, the WAS-AC now successfully organizes annual aquaculture conferences in identified African countries, the most recent one having been held in Tunisia in November 2024. The next big event, the World Aquaculture Conference is scheduled for Entebbe, Uganda in June 2025.
The Award was presented by the Tunisian Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries (Hon Ezzedine Ben Chiekh) and the WAS Africa President (Ms Foluke Areola), flanked by the Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (Eng. Himba Cheelo), African Union Development Agency senior official (Dr Bernice Mclean), and in front of over 700 delegates who had gathered for the Opening Ceremony of Aquaculture Africa 2024, Tunisia. Overall, the event was attended by over 1200 participants from various African countries and globally.
Mr. Blessing Mapfumo (44), Zimbabwean is an International Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisor, with over 20 years of work experience, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2019 to date, Mr. Mapfumo has been the Executive Officer (Secretariat) of the African Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society – (WAS-AC), which is hosted at the Africa Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Headquarters in South Africa. WAS parent organization is based in the USA.
Prior to joining the WAS (2014-2017), Mr. Mapfumo was a Fisheries and Aquaculture Project Officer at FAO, South Africa – overseeing the implementation of some national and regional projects. During 2011-2013, as a Freelance Consultant, he was involved in several fisheries and aquaculture projects; covering technical aspects related to fish trade/marketing, post-harvest technologies/management and aquaculture. He is also a renowned Training Consultant, having developed training materials and facilitated the delivery of short training courses to thousands of beneficiaries in Africa, mostly on business development in aquaculture and fish trade. He is often hired by governments, international organizations, donor agencies, private companies, academic institutions and individuals to advise and execute aquaculture and fishery related assignments.
From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Mapfumo worked for INFOSA (the Inter-governmental Organisation for Marketing Information and Technical Advisory Services for the Fishing Industry in Southern Africa), based in Namibia. INFOSA is a Unit of the global Fish INFONETWORK (which includes GLOBEFISH, INFOFISH, EUROFISH, INFOPESCA and others). He first assumed the role of Aquaculture Advisor, later included the roles of Marketing Information Officer and Acting Team Leader (2011).
Mr. Mapfumo’s first career (2000-2006) was with Lake Harvest Aquaculture Ltd, Zimbabwe one of the then leading freshwater aquaculture ventures in Africa. He assumed the role of Fish Production Attendant and rose the ranks to become the company’s Production Administrator, responsible for all fish production data/records management, production economics, planning/modelling and generation of management reports (from hatchery operations to marketing).
Academically, Mr. Mapfumo holds a Graduate in Agriculture Management from Namibia and various expert/specialist certificates on fisheries and aquaculture, including from the United Nations Fisheries Training Programme (UNU/FTP). He also holds a Diploma in Information Technology (IT) from the University of Zimbabwe. He is currently pursuing his MBA studies. Mr. Mapfumo’s working language is English, with a basic understanding of French and Portuguese.
Other additional skills on Mr. Mapfumo’s belt include; advanced computer operation skills, training skills, research techniques, business proposal development, organizing workshops/conferences, strong communication skills and the ability to communicate with people at all levels (and of different cultural backgrounds); and overall project co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation. He also has proven experience in writing and editing project reports; and has written a number of published articles on international press. He has done numerous PowerPoint presentations on fisheries and aquaculture at international forums.
Mr. Mapfumo is a member of (or affiliated to) several professional bodies, notably the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), GLOBEFISH/INFONETWORK, FishSA, African Women Network for Fish Trade (AWFISHNET), International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa (AASA) and Zimbabwe Fish Producers Association (ZFPA), Zimbabwe Kapenta Producers Association (ZKPA) Aquatic Blue Foods Coalition; USAID Fish Innovation Lab. Mr. Mapfumo has extensively travelled to over fifty countries, attending expert forums, capacity-building events and also implementing projects (as a short to medium-term expert). He acquired vast knowledge and lessons on fisheries and aquaculture during visits to many of these countries.
Key organizations that Mr. Mapfumo has worked for (or engaged with) include; WAS, FAO, AU-IBAR, AUDA-NEPAD, Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), EU-Indian Ocean Commission (IOC-SmartFish/ECOFISH Programmes), Zimbabwe Fish Producers Association (ZFPA), NORAD, EU, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank (WAFP), USAID as well as several other smaller organisations and state entities, financial institutions and private companies. As such, he has given technical support to projects implemented in Egypt, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Mauritius, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, Gabon, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia, Morocco, regional projects and some global partnership projects (distantly) through the FAO and AU systems
Mr. Mapfumo has authored several publications on fisheries and aquaculture and is also the Field Correspondent for the Aquaculture Africa Magazine (AAM). He coordinates the organization of Annual WAS Aquaculture Africa Conferences in Egypt (2022), Zambia (2023), Tunisia (2024), Uganda (2025), Tanzania (2026), Ghana (2027) as well as other WAS events and activities within the five regions of Africa.
