This is the 42nd post in a blog series to be published in 2021 by the Secretariat on behalf of the AU High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues (CJED)

The African Union's Agenda 2063 Goal Number 1 aspires for an African continent with a high standard of living and high quality of life and well-being for all citizens. Priority areas of this goal include eradicating hunger and malnutrition across the African continent. The African Union's Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods and Summit decision on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation were aimed at accomplishing agricultural prosperity through a more targeted approach to ensure food security and nutrition.[1],[2]

Regrettably, as of 2019, approximately 250 million Africans were persistently malnourished.[3] This was prevalent in Africa more than in any other region of the world. Notably, this accounted for nearly 20% of the African population. This was particularly observed across East Africa as approximately 7 million people were at high risk of starvation. Furthermore, approximately 33.8 million Africans were at risk of acute food insecurity. This accounted for approximately 12.8 million African children that were acutely undernourished across the African continent. Therefore, it becomes more than ever to address and alleviate these food insecurity and malnutrition challenges.

What is encouraging is that African countries have committed to strengthening the continent's food security and nutrition. This is progressively being accomplished by augmenting access to nutritious food to enable the nourishment of Africans, more especially young children.[4] Consequently, some African countries have reduced hunger-related deaths due to malnutrition through various interventions focusing on food security and nutrition.[5] However, it is not simply about providing food to Africans but providing nutritious food for all citizens. For example, Vitamin A has been found to be prevalently deficient in Africa, more especially among young children. Furthermore, among women, not only is there Vitamin A deficiency, but it is coupled with iron deficiency.[6] Such nutrition deficiencies can result in various vulnerabilities to diseases and defects.

Vitamin A, also referred to as retinol, is a micronutrient vital for a functional human immune system as it boosts disease resistance and promotes protection against blindness. The common sources of Vitamin A include spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, red peppers, mango, papaya, apricots, and dairy foods. However, due to malnutrition, an estimated 100 million people in Africa are at a higher risk of blindness because of Vitamin A deficiency. For example, Uganda and Mozambique are estimated to have respective 38% and 68% of children at high risk of acute blindness because of the limited dietary Vitamin A. However, this can easily be addressed by providing Vitamin A rich foods such as fish, liver, egg yolks, and whole milk and its products, such as butter and cheese. However, such foods are barely available for most African communities as they may be expensive. Part of the challenge for such supplies includes limited storage facilities, leading to food losses due to decomposition.

Figure 1: Estimated prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in children aged 6 to 59 months by country in 2013 (A) and the posterior standard deviation (analogous to standard error in non-Bayesian analysis) of the estimates (B) SOURCE: The Lancet Global Health 2015 3e528-e536DOI: (10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00039-X)

Fish is particularly crucial in diets for African people as it can significantly supplement Vitamin A and other essential mineral deficiencies. Unfortunately, it has been estimated that fish is commonly consumed by approximately 22% of Africans.[7] Notably, this percentage can exceed 50% in some African countries, especially where meat substitutes are expensive. Thus, considerations on the fish dietary uptake can significantly enhance Africa's food security and nutritional status.

Remarkably, fish is consumed by more than 200 million Africans in various parts of the continent.[8] It has also been reported that the proportion of fish dietary protein is considerably prominent in Senegal (47%), Gambia (62%), and 63% in both Sierra Leone and Ghana. Notably, in these countries, fish can be consumed as fresh, smoked, or dried. Furthermore, besides being a source of food, fish farming and processing serve as a source of income for numerous fish farmers and traders across the African continent. The fish industry is considerably contributing to Africa's socio-economic development and growth through fish processing and retail trading.

Unfortunately, despite fish providing vital vitamins and minerals and potentially boosting Africa's socio-economic activities, Africa's consumption of fish remains limited compared to other continents. This is because Africa lags behind in fish production, storage, and processing, thus, impeding fishery trade and consumption. The significant constraints of growing the African aquaculture industry include the considerable fish post-harvest losses due to poor storage facilities, subsequently reducing Africa's fish production capacity. There are also limited fish breeds, fish feeds, technical training and capacity strengthening for fish farmers, limited research in fish production, and limited fish market infrastructure. For instance, Africa lacks adequate infrastructure such as cold rooms and expertise in the value chain to maximise fish production and storage potential.

The African Union Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) is encouraging African Member States to adopt fish preservation technologies to increase their value chain sustainability and maximise the potential of fishing and aquaculture across the African continent. Traditionally, the methods of fish preservation include drying, smoking, freezing, chilling, and brining.[9] However, these traditional fish preservation processes possess limited control over the drying rate. In some cases, the fish may be over-dried or over-dried, rendering them less valuable in the commercial markets. In some cases, because of the limited drying infrastructure in most African countries, fish farmers may end up exposing their processed fish to winds, dust, dirt, insects, and pests' infestation, and microbial contamination. Therefore, better preservation and storage technologies should be adopted to address the challenges mentioned above and potential contamination threats.

APET is urging African farmers to adopt and adapt solar drying technologies as this may address some of the shortcomings presented by traditional drying. For example, Malawi fish farmers have adopted the solar dome dryer to preserve and conserve their fish products.[10] Notably, the solar drying tent is fabricated from a polythene sheet and a simple wooden frame.[11] These drying tents have been designed to trap and confine warm air inside. Such properties can hasten the drying process of the fish, even during rainy weather. Notably, this dryer is effective and efficient in decreasing the drying period and enhancing the drying rate because of the optimally superior temperatures accomplished by these solar dryers.

Figure 2: Low-tech solar tent to boost Malawi's dried fish industry. SOURCE: ALJAZEERA : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/6/15/low-tech-solar-tent-boosts-malawis-dried-fish-industry

Most importantly, the potentially high temperatures realised through this solar dryer can effectively impede and inactivate insect activities of insects such as flies and beetles. The dryer can also reduce access against preying animals such as birds and cats. In addition, this wind dryer can also eliminate wind-born dust from reaching the fish products. By so doing, the fish shelf-life is enhanced. As a result, this can strengthen food security.

Fish can also be preserved by utilising modern smoking methods. Traditionally, Western and Central African countries have been utilising open kilns powered by mangrove wood fuel for their fish smoking methodologies. Unfortunately, these open kilns are exhibiting significant energy inefficiencies, susceptibility to contamination, and subsequently promoting deforestation. Therefore, to address this challenge, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has introduced an easy-to-assemble fish smoking drying technology suitable for rural communities.[12] This kind of technology is sufficiently improving energy efficiency of the technologies. This is because this technology utilises approximately 50% less wood fuel when compared to the traditional open-type smoking rafts.

On the other hand, the FAO's Thiaroye Fish Processing Technology is significantly reducing health hazards and improving food safety and quality. This technology is notably improving the working conditions for fish farmers and reducing food losses that are beneficial to small-scale fishing communities. Most importantly, the FTT possesses a dual functioning smoking oven and mechanical drier. This is precisely fabricated to improve fuel efficiency by capturing heat and smoke during operation.[13]

Figure 3: The FAO Thiaroye Fish Processing Technology Prototype.

APET notes that most African smallholder farmers have little or no access to electricity, more especially in rural Africa. Consequently, this impedes the fish farmers' access to refrigeration after harvest leading to considerable losses due to decomposition. Therefore, APET is encouraging African countries to promote solar cooling facilities for their fish and vegetable harvests. Such efforts can assist many African farmers during food processing and storage. For example, Ghana is utilising the Redavia solar-lease solution as a storage facility for fish harvest.[14] Apart from dropping the post-harvest losses, this 90 kW Pay-As-You-Go solar system significantly reduces energy bills for cooling and storage purposes.

Therefore, APET is challenging African countries to adopt and adapt these cost-effective technologies to enable African smallholder farmers to improve their storage facilities. Such efforts can also help African countries enhance their dietary and food supplies aligned with Agenda 2063 aspirations. However, African countries are advised to formulate and implement enabling policies and funding mechanisms to enable the adoption and harnessing of these cost-effective technologies. Finally, such efforts will assist African countries not only ensure food security but also provide nutritious food to their citizenry.

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[1] https://www.resakss.org/sites/default/files/Malabo%20Declaration%20on%20Agriculture_2014_11%2026-.pdf.

[2] https://www.nepad.org/caadp/publication/ending-hunger-africa-elimination-of-hunger-and-food-insecurity-african-2025

[3] https://www.worldvision.org/hunger-news-stories/africa-hunger-famine-facts.

[4] Regional Overview of Food Insecurity Africa, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 2015. https://www.fao.org/3/i4635e/i4635e.pdf.

[5] Africa hunger, famine: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. https://www.worldvision.org/hunger-news-stories/africa-hunger-famine-facts.

[6] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329782749_Prospects_and_challenges_of_fish_on_food_security_in_Africa/link/5c398262299bf12be3c150bf/download

[7] de Bruyn, J.;Wesana, J.; Bunting, S.W.; Thilsted, S.H.; Cohen, P.J., Fish Acquisition and Consumption in the African Great Lakes Region through a Food Environment Lens: A Scoping Review. Nutrients 2021, 13, 2408. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072408.

[8] https://digitalarchive.worldfishcenter.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12348/1946/Fish%26FoodSecurity%20in%20Africa.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

[9] https://www.longdom.org/open-access/fish-processing-and-preservation-techniques-selected-fishingcommunities-along-the-upper-benue-river-taraba-state-2375-446X-1000184.pdf.

[10] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/6/15/low-tech-solar-tent-boosts-malawis-dried-fish-industry.

[11] Olokor J., Oghenekaro O., Funso S., (2009) Adaptation and improvement of a simple Solar Tent Dryer to enhance fish drying, Vol. 7, Nature and Science.

[12] https://www.rural21.com/english/news/detail/article/new-fish-drying-technology.html?no_cache=1.

[13] https://climateinitiativesplatform.org/index.php/New_fish_preservation_techniques_developed_by_FAO.

[14] https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/07/03/redavia-solar-lease-solution-keeps-fish-cool-in-ghana/.