Financing agreement aims to boost Mozambique artisanal fishery efforts
Mozambique recently formalized a significant partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), sealing a financing agreement totaling USD 63 million (EUR 57.6 million). This collaborative effort aims to bolster the livelihoods of artisanal fishers along Mozambique's extensive East African coastline.
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In a significant development announced on March 1st, Mozambique has finalized a financing agreement with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), marking a pivotal step towards supporting the Artisanal Fisheries Resilient Development Project. This initiative aims to alleviate constraints faced by Mozambican artisanal fishers, facilitating their efforts to enhance production and access business opportunities both domestically and internationally.
Jaana Keitaanranta, IFAD Country Director for Mozambique, emphasized the project's transformative potential, highlighting its objective to empower over 90,000 artisanal fishers while promoting sustainable fishing practices. The endeavor seeks to ensure food security, ecosystem preservation, and resilience-building within local communities. Key strategies include advancing research on suitable fishing methodologies, providing training in fisheries management, and exploring opportunities for mariculture development through pilot programs and farmer training.
Moreover, the project outlines plans to identify and rehabilitate sensitive and degraded habitats, such as mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, to further environmental conservation efforts.
Scheduled for implementation in stages until 2030, the project anticipates a total cost of approximately USD 54.5 million (EUR 49.8 million), with IFAD contributing USD 29.3 million (EUR 26.8 million). Additional financing is provided by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Mozambican government, private-sector investments, and in-kind contributions from artisanal fishers. Despite these contributions, a financing gap of USD 20 million (EUR 18.3 million) remains, according to IFAD projections.
Keitaanranta underscored the significance of the funding in addressing challenges faced by Mozambican artisanal fishers, who constitute 90 percent of the country's total fishery output. Despite an increase in production from 259,000 metric tons (MT) in 2015 to 414,000 MT in 2020, emerging issues such as data collection deficiencies and environmental degradation pose threats to the sector's sustainability.