Farmer-to-farmer learning is boosting aquaculture in Sierra Leone

Small-scale aquaculture has significant potential to diversify livelihoods, raise incomes and create employment opportunities as well as improve household food security through greater access to fresh, nutritious fish.

Despite these benefits, few farmers in Sierra Leone are currently engaged in aquaculture, mainly because the concept of fish farming for business is relatively new in the country.

As part of its efforts to support the development of the national aquaculture sector, the USAID-funded Feed the Future Scaling Up Aquaculture Production (SAP) project is developing and testing participatory extension approaches designed to give farmers the skills and knowledge they need to operate profitable aquaculture businesses. The focus of the project, which runs until 2019, is the inland Tonkolili District, one of the poorest and most nutritionally insecure regions in the country.