Adapting to Climate Change: Innovative Techniques in the Smallholder Aquaculture Sector

Small-scale enterprises in the aquaculture sector of Southeast Africa face considerable challenges due to climate change, severely affecting water availability, disease prevalence, and farm productivity. Extreme weather events like floods or dry spells can already lead to severe crop losses across entire regions if not addressed adequately by fish farmers. Climate-driven changes in temperature and precipitation are expected to have long-term impacts on the aquaculture sector at multiple levels.

In response, the Global Programme Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (GP Fish) developed adaptation strategies for the sub-sector to mitigate these impacts while incorporating agroecology practices. These strategies include the intermittent harvest method, which reduces the risk of production losses and enhances climate resilience by allowing regular harvesting of fish to prevent total loss during extreme weather events . Additionally, the implementation of agroforestry practices improves soil and water management, enhancing the resilience of aquaculture systems against drought and floods . Furthermore, digital climate information systems have been introduced to provide early and regular weather updates, enabling farmers to adjust production and harvesting methods to prevent losses from climate events such as flooding .