Resource information
Training on climate-smart aquaculture (CSA) practices for smallholder fish farmers targeted small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Zambia, as well as fisheries and livestock extension officers offering services to the farmers. The SMEs included recipients of accelerator grants from the Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project that were given for the aquaculture value chain and other SMEs offering aquaculture-related goods and services.
WorldFish hosted the training, which was facilitated with staff from WorldFish and Musika as well as experts from both the Livestock Development and Veterinary Services departments in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MFL). The aim was to hold a training of trainers (TOTs) workshop on integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems (IAAS), with the focus on integrating fish and small livestock. IAAS is a climate-smart practice that helps farmers become resilient against weather variability. The TOT also focused on better management practices (BMPs) for integrating livestock and fish, but also on gender equity and social inclusion (GESI), as devising gender-inclusive ways helps develop resilient farming and food systems against climate risks. The GESI training aimed to train SMEs on how to target both men and women with services, extension and climate information and for them to understand why GESI is necessary.
The workshop had three primary objectives:
Conduct training on IAAS, with a focus on integrating fish and small livestock, such as poultry and goats.
Conduct training on BMPs in livestock-fish integrated systems.
Conduct training on GESI in relation to IAAS.
A total of 55 participants (27 women and 28 men) took part in the training, 21 of whom were youths (under 35 years of age). By the end of the workshop, participants had acquired knowledge on CSA practices related to IAAS. Additionally, the SMEs implementing the accelerator grant activities for the aquaculture value chain were able to use some of the outputs of the workshop to develop a gender and inclusion strategy for activities related to CSA and climate information services (CIS).
