Drought-induced fish feed shortage constraining Namibian aquaculture production

A dwindling supply of the ingredients needed to manufacture fish feed has Namibian aquaculture operations scrambling to find ways to attain feed fast enough to support the nation’s ambitious aquaculture growth plan.Namibia Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Sylvia Makgone said she is concerned about the latest prolonged drought in the southeast African nation, as well as in neighboring Zambia where it imports some of its feed from. The drought has severely affected agricultural operations that produce the raw materials used in aquafeed production, such as maize and pearl millet.Thus, the government has scrambled to find ways to produce feed but continues to run into the same issue: a shortage of raw materials.“No one in Namibia is producing fish feed; the Ministry [of Fisheries and Marine Resources] on its own started producing, but because of the type of fish we produce … we need maize and pearl millet to produce,” she said. “This drought is all over, so with fish ...