WorldFish’s research draws interest at Zambia’s 95th Agriculture and Commercial Show

WorldFish, through its Zambia office, took part in the 95th Agriculture and Commercial Show, held August 2-7, 2023, in Lusaka. The show, which attracts more than 200,000 visitors yearly with attendees from across supply chains including farming, agribusinesses, investors, and policymakers, provided a valuable opportunity for the center to showcase its work and engage diverse stakeholders.

This year, the show was themed “Inclusive economic transformation.” WorldFish showcased its various projects mainly highlighting the work under the Development and Scaling of Sustainable Feed for Resilient Aquatic Food Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (FASA) project, funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

With the increasing cost of fish feed, the innovations and technologies under the project, implemented across Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia, were highly appreciated by the local fish farmers and aspiring fish farmers who visited the stand. The innovations resonated with the president’s call to stakeholders in transforming the agriculture sector and its related ecosystem into profitable business ventures benefiting especially the smallholder farmers and all in the value chain.

Notable among the people who visited the stand was Anna Songolo, the permanent secretary in Zambia’s Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. She expressed keen interest in understanding the concept of fish feed formulation using novel local ingredients. She also expressed interest in the promotion of fish consumption through fish powder and reiterated the need for its scaling.

Aside from interacting with stand visitors, WorldFish reached wider audiences speaking about the FASA project and its significance through radio appearances, stand coverage broadcast on television and captured on Facebook Live, and a special appearance on live TV on Farmer’s Day on the last day of the show. WorldFish’s scientists and experts, Arthertone Jere, Victoria Nkole and Lizzy Muzungaire interacted with the media on Prime Television and Joy FM radio.

WorldFish’s showcase demonstrated harnessing research in creating a resilient aquatic food system for inclusive economic transformation. The stand attracted guests including fish farmers, university students and lecturers, as well as Mbamwai Mbewe, director of fisheries and livestock.

The visitors expressed interest in the research that WorldFish is doing to transform aquatic food systems and learned about the feed formulation under the FASA project, genetic improvement research under the Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project, and the nutrition component of the aquaculture value chain through the Nutrient-rich small fish production, processing, and marketing in Myanmar and Zambia (SPM) and FishFirst! projects.