Kenya takes part in coral reef, fisheries production project

Kenya is among five African countries that will benefit from a programme that targets to enhance livelihoods, increase food security and enhance marine safety.

This comes after Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Kenya Gabriel Rugalema and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan Ryoichi Horie signed a USD 4.4 million (Sh4.5billion) agreement for a joint Blue Growth Initiative project.

The project, which will target 30,000 direct beneficiaries, will be implemented for three years.

Dubbed ‘Enhancing livelihoods, food security and maritime safety through increased resilience of fishing communities dependent on coral reef fisheries in the African part of the Indian Ocean,’ it will be implemented in Kenya, Comoros, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius. 

This is aligned with one of the priorities to promote Africa’s blue/ocean economy by enhancing sustainable use of marine resources.

This project is also in line with the theme of the forthcoming TICAD 7 scheduled for between August 28 to 30 in Yokohama, Japan, which is “Advancing Africa’s development through people, technology and innovation’’ by developing capacity of fishery communities including youth and women as well as by utilising ICT technology to combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing among others.