Scaling Systems and Partnerships for Accelerating the Adoption of Improved Tilapia Strains by Small-Scale Fish Farmers (SPAITS) Project Inception Workshop

Global demand for seafood continues to rise, driven by population growth, higher incomes, urbanization and increasing preference for seafood protein. As capture fisheries production has reached its limits, the growth of aquaculture is critical for meeting the increasing demand for fish. One of the bottlenecks constraining sustainable aquaculture development is the lack of improved strains of fish.

To date, aquaculture in developing countries is still largely based on unimproved fish strains, which are genetically similar or inferior to wild counterparts. This results in aquaculture with poor growth rate, high mortality and production costs. Genetically improved seeds of fish and other aquatic species are essential for increasing productivity and improving socioeconomic performance of aquaculture production.

As part of the sustainable aquaculture research of the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH), the BMZ/GIZ funded SPAITS project aims to accelerate the dissemination of improved tilapia and carp strains to smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia, and provide feedback to research on new genetic traits in tilapia that could further benefit smallholders in developing countries.

Dr Nhoung Tran, WorldFish research leads specialize in fish supply and demand modeling and climate change with his research teams will be coordinating the two-days workshop from 14th to 15th February 2019.The goal of workshops is to provide attendees with a focused and in-depth platform to develop project workplans, including project sites, timelines, deliverables and activities of each of the four outputs of the SPAITS project, refine the proposed methodologies and develop a common understanding of the project, and its different activities, expected outcomes, and the individual roles and responsibilities in achieving the project’s deliverables.