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Tilapia fish farming is getting increasingly widespread in Zimbabwe. However, many operations are struggling to grow beyond subsistence production and access reliable markets that pay competitively.
Production is highly polarised, with one large-scale company accounting for 94 percent of output.
The Zimbabwe Fish Producers Association (ZFPA) estimates there are 600 small-scale tilapia farmers that produce fish for the market but in total, this accounts for less than 200 tonnes of fish a year and supplies the local market channel that is mostly retailed in supermarkets, rather than local butcheries, as it is viewed as a premium product.
To help develop the tilapia value chain, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with Chinhoyi University of Technology carried out research that will create pathways for the economic, social, and environmentally sustainable production of tilapia fish in Zimbabwe.
FAO will from 29-30 March 2022, hold a workshop to validate the data collected on the farmed tilapia Value chain analysis report.
The objective of the workshop is to present the results of the Value Chain Analysis (VCA) report for discussion and input and initiate the development of a shared vision and strategic options for value chain upgrading.
The research report will be validated by stakeholders from both the private and public sectors in the tilapia value chain in Zimbabwe, including the core value chain actors like small, medium, and large fish farmers, retailers, exporters, providers of inputs and support services for the value chain like fish feed processors and distributors, fingerling hatcheries, equipment suppliers, extension services, financial service providers.
Validation will be also provided by other stakeholders whose work concerns the development of the value chain like government organizations, research institutes, civil society, and development partners.
The Value Chain Analysis research was carried out by FAO under the FISH4ACP project, a 5-year project involving 12 Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) countries.
FISH4ACP is an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS), financed by the Europen Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by FAO.
In Zimbabwe, the FISH4ACP programme was launched in 2020, focusing on the farmed tilapia value chain.
