Fish farming suitability assessment in the Republic of the Congo

New Hand-in-Hand Initiative analysis datasets have been published. The initiative uses geospatial analysis to boost rural incomes, reduce vulnerabilities, and promote sustainable agricultural development, targeting poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and inequality by identifying opportunities for agricultural transformation and rural growth. Suitability assessments for agrifood systems infrastructure have been conducted in over 60 countries, covering crops, livestock, and fish farming, using geographic information systems multi-criteria evaluation (GIS-MCE) to combine and weight geospatial criteria.

The data forms part of an assessment of freshwater fish farming suitability in the Republic of the Congo. The study highlights regions suitable for non-intensive pond systems aimed at addressing poverty alleviation, food security, and nutrition. It also identifies optimal locations for intensive commercial systems, closed and semi-closed systems (e.g., tanks, ponds, recirculating systems) and open tilapia cage systems in water bodies.

The newly published datasets include:

• Demand Mapping: Accessibility to urban areas weighted by Atlas AI population density and asset wealth index.
• Suitability Index and Recommended Locations for various fish farming systems:

• Non-intensive small-scale integrated systems.
• Peri-urban closed or semi-closed intensive commercial catfish systems.
• Open intensive cage tilapia systems in water bodies.

These datasets are designed to support informed planning and decision-making for the development of the freshwater fish farming sector.

More info about the data at: https://data.apps.fao.org/?lang=en&share=f-548e1ac7-1ed2-41cb-93b1-fedf4dbdfe81