The African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA), with the support of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), is organizing a training workshop on off-ground fish farming integrated with off-ground market gardening from 18 to 20 May 2023. This workshop, which will take place at the ISRA/IRD campus in Dakar, aims to build the capacity of professional women in small-scale fishing in Africa and to diversify their sources of income.
Women play a crucial role in the African small-scale fisheries sector, being present at all stages of the chain. However, they face many challenges that have undermined their activities, such as habitat destruction, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, overcapacity and overexploitation of stocks, as well as lack of access to adequate funding and the consequences of the COVID-19 sanitary crisis.
“This training workshop on off-ground fish farming integrated with off-ground market gardening, provided by the Dakar-Thiaroye Oceanographic Research Centre (CRODT), has the general objective of training CAOPA women in off-ground fish farming techniques, in order to diversify and increase their income in the small-scale fisheries sector,” according to the concept note.
The specific objectives of the training are as follows
– Build capacity of beneficiaries in the installation of fish ponds and the identification of suitable sites for fish farming.
– Improve beneficiaries’ skills in food management, pond and pond maintenance, management of rearing sites, harvesting and off-ground fish farming sites integrated with off-ground market gardening.
– Enable women to disseminate techniques learned in their respective countries.
This training workshop will host fifteen (15) women selected from the five CAOPA member countries (Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Senegal).