Opportunity mapping in the sustainable aquaculture sector

The opportunity

Over a multi-year period, Portico’s Managing Partner worked with a client group representing venture philanthropy, development finance, and sustainable aquaculture start-ups to map market opportunities across a nascent regional aquaculture ecosystem. Focus areas included:

• Suitability of extensive freshwater resources for commercial-scale fish farming
• Extent to which agricultural policy frameworks support private investment in the value chain
• Readiness of existing inputs and feedstock providers to serve a growing cluster of aquaculture companies
• Scenario-based forecasting of consumer demand growth, based on rapid urbanization and increasing preference for locally-sourced sustainable proteins vs imports
• Level of investment readiness of market-leading companies—including alignment of family-owned firms with the client’s sustainability objectives

The solution

His research identified constraints to competitiveness due to over-reliance on expensive imported feeds; prioritization of pond culture over cage culture in the policy framework and government extension services; and a lack of protection for nascent local fish production from under-regulated ‘dumping’ of Chinese frozen fish, despite concerns over low quality and contamination. 

Nevertheless, he surfaced opportunities to strengthen the domestic industry through targeted investments. Examples included (1) concessional financing to build feedstock mills co-located with lake-based cage fisheries which, in turn, would stimulate the substitution of imported feedstock with locally grown maize and soy; and (2) funding to support an out-grower scheme rollout that would provide economic opportunity for lakeside communities to benefit from commercial-scale cage culture infrastructure and cold chain distribution networks.