Transforming blue foods farming in North Africa and the Middle East (TRUBLU) | FAO Food Coalition | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Countries involved

Egypt
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
Tunisia

National institutions

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Egypt (General Authority for Fisheries Resources Development - GAFRD) (Egypt)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Jordan (National Agricultural Research Center - NARC) (Jordan)
Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia)
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tunisia (Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer - INSTM) (Tunisia)

Non-state actors

General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean of the FAO (GFCM)
Project "Marine Aquaculture Development in Egypt" MADE II (financed by the IEDS Programme) (Egypt)
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (Saudi Arabia)

Time frame

2022-2025

Background

Negative impacts of the pandemic on blue food systems and value chains linked in particular to the development of aquaculture result in decrease in national production and export of farmed products. This, in turn, affects job creation, food security and the empowerment of youth and women in this sector.
The Near East and North Africa (NENA) sub-region is striving considerably to build back and support recovery efforts. It remains an arid sub-region for natural resources and this, combined with factors such as high population growth, urbanization and decrease in land productivity, the degradation of natural resources, constitutes a threat to countries in that sub-region and their food systems. In addition, unemployment, particularly for women of all ages and young people, represents a critical issue. Water scarcity, small-scale agriculture, food waste, building resilience for food security and nutrition, fisheries and aquaculture all constitute national priorities that this project will contribute significantly to.

Objective

Transforming aquaculture to eradicate poverty and hunger

The project aims at contributing to the transformation of the aquaculture sector in Egypt, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, building upon their cooperation within the GFCM on matters related to aquaculture and exploiting the technical knowledge of the GFCM, thereby prompting an improvement in food security, equity and resilient livelihoods through innovation, nature-based solutions and the reduction of food waste. The strategy for achieving these objectives will be to tailor the FAO Blue Transformation policy to the aquaculture sector of the four countries, in close collaboration with the relevant stakeholders in each country, including national and local authorities, aquaculture producers and research institutions.

Activities

Build up the contribution of aquaculture to food security and local economies;
Promote responsible aquaculture development by applying best practices, such as nature-based solutions, and by reducing food waste;
Create partnerships to generate investments and foster the sharing of knowledge and the transfer of technology;
Ensure women’s empowerment and promote opportunities for youth;
Increase the resilience of the aquaculture sector at the national level in response to crises such as those brought about the COVID-19 pandemic;
Increase social acceptability of aquaculture and promote blue foods produced by small-scale farming;
Encourage the formulation of policies and shared regulatory instruments and tools, including indicators, in consultation among all the beneficiary countries and in line with GFCM standards and procedures;
Bring about a platform for joint initiatives and dialogue among the beneficiary countries, including by organizing transversal activities for human development in other GFCM Members.