Partnership reinforces Egypt’s place as a continental leader in farmed fish production.
by Blue Africa News
The government of Egypt has renewed and strengthened its partnership with WorldFish, reaffirming its role as a top producer of aquatic foods and a regional hub for sustainable aquaculture research, through the signing of an agreement to continue hosting WorldFish offices in the North African nation.
Egypt’s minister of agriculture and land reclamation, Alaa Farouk signed the agreement on behalf of the government on December 4, extending the hosting of WorldFish’s regional office for the next 25 years.
Headquartered in Penang, Malaysia, WorldFish is an international research organization working to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods through aquatic food systems that are sustainable, equitable, and inclusive, with regional offices in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, Myanmar, Solomon Islands and Zambia.
Egypt has hosted the organisation’s offices since 1997, a journey that has seen the nation become a powerhouse of aquaculture production in Africa, with a ripple effect on job creation, income generation and economic growth in the country.
“WorldFish is honoured to be hosted by Egypt for another 25 years, cementing our longstanding collaboration,” said Essam Yassin Mohammed, WorldFish Director General, during signing of the agreement in Cairo.
He said they are committed to work with Egypt, leveraging on WorldFish’s cross-cutting scientific expertise that can help the country and the wider region unlock the many benefits of sustainable aquaculture and related value chains, strengthening nutrition, women empowerment and economic growth.
“It is important for Egypt to drive more investments in its aquaculture sector in Egypt and Africa. In working with WorldFish, we can develop an integrated action plan for developing the sector, as the center brings scientific expertise that can raise the efficiency of producers and help Egypt’s producers achieve global standards, necessary to connect to foreign markets,” said minister Alaa Farouk.
Signing of the new Egypt-WorldFish agreement on December 04, 2025 in Cairo, Egypt. Photo courtesy: WorldFish
Under the agreement, Egypt will continue to host the Abbassa research and training center in Sharqia governorate. The center is a hub for climate-smart aquaculture research, training and capacity building, focusing its research on enhancing Nile tilapia performance, feed, fish health and strengthening the market systems.
“A breakthrough innovation from the center has been the Abbassa strain of Nile tilapia that reduced environmental impact by 36 percent while growing up to 28 percent faster, enabling Egypt to sustainably intensify its fish production. Today, the Abbassa strain is providing a solution to develop aquaculture in arid regions,” noted WorldFish.
Continued genetic improvement of tilapia to reach 35 percent of tilapia farms with the improved Abbasa strain, sustainable and cost-effective fish feed, renewable energy technologies in the fish value chain, and certification of fish farms for export requirements are at the core of the Egypt-WorldFish collaboration’s future plans.
Egypt is the continental leader in fish production. By 2021, the country achieved a total fish production of 2.3 million tons across various species, with tilapia accounting for more than half of the output.
Oliver Ochieng, Blue Africa News