Fish Market, Cambodia
As a research organization dedicated to helping achieve development impact we generate and synthesize new knowledge which we then share and help apply. One of the key research questions that we address is: “How can we improve input and output value chains to increase the development impact of aquaculture and fisheries?”
Small scale producers have discovered that adopting new technologies is often not enough to increase their productivity unless the ‘value chain’ for their products is enhanced at the same time. The ‘value chain’ involves the full range of activities required to bring a product to market and includes all the different phases of production, processing, packaging, marketing and delivery to the consumer.
One approach will include the development of networks of individuals and organizations who come together to share their experience, knowledge, skills, and resources to address issues of mutual interest. For example, the members of a network focused on improved production and marketing of fish might include individual fish farmers, farmers’ organizations, women’s groups, community based organizations, NGOs, local government officers, traders, transporters, processors, service providers, micro‐financiers and insurance agents, retailers and wholesalers, agri‐businesses, researchers and journalists, amongst others.
Our research outcomes should bring about improved enterprises and market information, and more equitable participation, leading to increased production and consumption of fish, especially by poor consumers, and increased income for producers, processors and traders.
Together with partners we are pursuing our work on value chains through the CGIAR Research Programs, especially that on
'Livestock and Fish'. The program focuses on the development of a number of animal source food value chains, including fish in Uganda and Egypt. We are also using a value chain approach in the CGIAR Research Programs dealing with aquatic agriculture systems, climate change and nutrition. The methodology can help answer questions such as how climate change is likely to affect fish production and access to fish by those who need it most, and also helps identify actions that increase the resilience of fish production value chains to such threats.
