s previously reported in Aquanews, USAID last year commissioned expert evaluations of three agriculture subsectors—aquaculture and fisheries, integrated pest management, and sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.All three subsector reports were submitted to the Strategic Partnership for Agricultural Research and Education (SPARE)—a subcommittee of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), which is a presidentially-appointed body that advises USAID—in May.
The Fisheries and Aquaculture Sub-sector Report presents a vigorous case for enhanced support of international development assistance in global fisheries and aquaculture. For those interested, the report can be down-loaded as a PDF from the program website at <pdacrsp.oregonstate.edu>.
SPARE will present its recommendations to BIFAD in October, and BIFAD will thereafter develop recommendations to present to USAID.
In the meantime, the Aquaculture CRSP has an exciting portfolio of research underway in the program’s Eleventh Work Plan. The research focus is aquaculture development in coastal and inland areas, with emphases on production technology, watershed management, and human welfare, health, and nutrition. Research sites include Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Numerous related regional outreach activities in neighboring countries are also underway.
