Mozambique-Artisanal Fisheries Promotion Project (ProPESCA)

Published on February 7, 2020

ProPesca is a multi-faceted project that targets all levels of the fish value chain in coastal Mozambique through an array of actions, including: Investing in refrigeration Building capacity Improving market facilities or constructing new ones Improving infrastructure, including roads and electricity supply Providing access to finance through the formation of credit groups Improving nutrition through ,ultiple actions, including establishing home gardens and conducting cooking demonstartions.

The Artisanal Fisheries Promotion Project (ProPESCA) was designed to improve the incomes and livelihoods of poor households involved in artisanal fisheries in Mozambique. Central to achieving this goal is increasing the returns from fish sales for artisanal fishers and small-market operators. Impacts include: -The project trained 13,000 fishers in improved handling, processing and conservation of fresh and frozen fish -16 fish markets were restored and 15 were newly constructed: eight for first sale and seven for retail. -the project funded the improvement of 525 km of roads. -127 km of electricity lines were constructed to link fish markets with the national grid and eight markets were provided with solar panel systems for ice making and cold storage. -ProPESCA also formed 2,783 credit groups and opened five financing windows to fund their business plans. -a total of 596 home gardens were established, 2,152 cooking demonstration sessions with locally available products were conducted with 12,391 women, 95 hours of nutrition education radio programmes were broadcast on community radio stations, and 5,704 students received training in nutrition education. -Latest figures indicate that the yearly value of higher value fish marketed by fishers in the project area increased from US$55 million to US$204 million, while for dried fish and fresh fish the value of yearly sales is expected to increase by project completion from US$31.5 million to US$42 million and from US$14 million to US$31.5 million, respectively. Make contact with IFAD's ASAP programme