Enhancing the contribution of small-scale aquaculture to food security, poverty alleviation and socio-economic development
About 70–80 percent of all those actors involved in fish farming worldwide are considered small-scale. The small-scale aquaculture (SSA) sector, is recognized as making an important contribution to food security, poverty alleviation and socio- economic development. However, assessing its contribution in a systematic way has been an uphill task. An expert workshop on “Enhancing the contribution of small-scale aquaculture to food security, poverty alleviation and socio-economic development” was convened to: (i) understand SSA and its contribution/potential contribution and challenges/issues facing the sector and the SSA producers; (ii) identify and elaborate on entry points for enhancing its contribution to food security, poverty alleviation and socio-economic development; (iii) identify concrete action plans to strengthen the capacity of SSA producers and households to deal with threats, risks, shocks, crises and emergencies; and (iv) identify elements of a planned Technical Guidelines for Enhancing the Contribution of Small-Scale Aquaculture to Food Security, Poverty Alleviation and Socio-Economic Development within FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries technical guidelines series. Some 38 experts from governmental, inter-governmental, regional and international organizations, and universities participated in this expert workshop. The report and proceedings of this expert workshop are presented in this publication. Part 1 contains the outcomes of the deliberations of the experts participating in the workshop; Part 2 consists of 18 technical papers presented during the workshop.