The Farm-2-Fork solution will intensify the production of fish, by establishing a sustainable, scalable and profitable smallholder fish farming value chain, delivered through [5] five building blocks as follows:
a) Develop an inclusive smallholder outgrowers scheme: The farmers will be selectively identified and grouped into clusters of 30-50 outgrowers to facilitate training and peer-policing. This is expected to reduce hawking [selling of fish outside the contract] as well as loan defaults.
b) Establish a farm-2-fork aquaculture infrastructure that links the farmers to the market. This constitute of: [a] a low-cost intensive
production kit for each smallholder outgrower
expected to raise production from the current 200
kilos per year of fish to ~ 4,900 kilos and [b] a vertically integrated
business complex, constituting of a broodstock, hatchery and nursery, a
grow-out facility , aqua feed mill and fish processing plant
which buys all the fish, packs and delivers to the market.
c) Deliver capacity building and training programs: deliver training to the farmers through various methods including formal training programs, experiential learning to reinforce the lessons from the formal training, extension services and one on one training at the smallholder fish farms, as well as Radio Programs in vernacular languages.
d) Provide the smallholder outgrowers with financial, insurance and savings products: This will include processing of their monthly payments, providing loans and advances, especially to cater for big expenditure items such as school fees in order to minimize hawking – [selling of fish outside the contract and a Savings Program]
In five years, we expect to have enrolled 7,000 farmers each producing ~4,900 kilos of fish, to a total of of 30,250 metric tonnes [MT] per year , each farmer will receive a new income from fish farming to the tune of US$ 4,117 per year. This level of production will make fish more accessible and affordable and hence raise per capita consumption and nutritional impact.
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