Project narrative
Context and challenge
Small-scale fisheries and aquaculture sustain millions of livelihoods along Africa’s coasts and lakes, yet remain among the least served by formal finance. Fisherfolk, processors and traders face seasonal cash-flow gaps, weak collateral and limited insurance against climate and market shocks.
Through the FISH4ACP partnership with FAO and the AFRACA Blue Economy programme, AFRACA has assessed the financial and regulatory landscape of priority aquatic value chains — oyster in The Gambia and Senegal, small pelagics in Tanzania and São Tomé, and shrimp in Cameroon.
Strategy and approach
The programme combines value-chain financing strategies, stakeholder and policy analysis, and hands-on training for financial service providers. AFRACA–FAO training workshops in Kenya and Tanzania have equipped banks and microfinance institutions to design products tailored to blue-economy actors.
Country studies translate diagnostics into concrete financing roadmaps, while the CAFI-SSF network connects small-scale fisheries to sustainable finance across the continent.
