Fish consumption in urban Lusaka: The need for aquaculture to improve targeting of the poor

Abstract

Aquaculture in Zambia is growing and likely to play an important role for food and nutrition security in the country. While outputs in capture fisheries and small-scale aquaculture are stagnating, commercial aquaculture holds promising potential to help increase the availability and accessibility of fish in the country, especially for the poor. While fish supply per capita has increased over the last decade, little is known on the food consumption patterns and the role of farmed fish in the diets of resource-poor households. The aim of this paper is to (1) generate information on the fish consumption patterns of poor households in urban Zambia and (2) explore the role of Zambian aquaculture as a source of fish among poor urban households. Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was used to sample poor households in Lusaka. Data on fish consumption were collected through a cross-sectional study that analyzed a quantitative household survey (N = 714). Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the sample of poor households was further disaggregated into four socio-economic strata (asset-based) to compare household fish consumption in respect to poverty levels. The results of the study show that the poorest households almost exclusively rely on small, dried fish products from capture fisheries while the slightly better off households among the poor strata tend to consume larger, fresh fish, such as tilapia, which are partly supplied by aquaculture producers. These results imply that the poorest of the poor households – unlike the better off households – are less likely to supplement their diets with fish products from aquaculture. This could have negative consequences for the food and nutrition security of disadvantaged consumers, given the stagnation of fish supply from Zambian capture fisheries and an increasing population that demands fish. For aquaculture to contribute more effectively to fish supply among poor consumers, we conclude that the sector would need to further expand its economies of scale (to decrease unit production costs), explore producing smaller-sized fish (to increase accessibility), promote the development of small and medium-sized fish farming, and diversify production with respect to species and products that better respond to the needs of poor consumers.