Piloting inclusive aquafeed business models: Experiences and outcomes in Zambia

Abstract

In Zambia, most smallholder fish farmers are located in regions with poor access to productive inputs, particularly in Northern and Luapula provinces. To buy high-quality fish feed, farmers in these provinces have to travel long distances, so most of them instead use incomplete fish feeds, which leads to low fish productivity. This reveals the glaring need to establish last-mile business models that would provide these farmers with access to high-quality inputs. To address this need, the Piloting Inclusive Business and Entrepreneurial Models for Smallholder Fish Farmers and Poor Value Chain Actors in Zambia and Malawi project, funded by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, aimed to pilot and establish inclusive business models to improve access to input and output markets, extension and knowledge for smallholder farmers. This report shares the experiences and outcomes in piloting three last-mile inclusive aquafeed business models to supply fish feed and knowledge to smallholder farmers in Zambia.