Aquaculture in Mozambique: current status, challenges, opportunities, and adaptive lessons learned from Brazil

Aquaculture in Mozambique is an emerging but highly promising component of the national fisheries sector, which remains largely dominated by extractive activities. Despite being at an early stage of development, the country benefits from favourable natural conditions and significant potential for expansion. This article presents a concise assessment of the current status, key challenges, and opportunities of Mozambican aquaculture, while drawing adaptable lessons from Brazil, one of the world’s most successful aquaculture industries. The analysis begins with an overview of the fisheries sector, followed by an examination of recent developments in aquaculture. Although progress has been achieved, the subsector continues to face major constraints, including poor seed and feed quality, limited availability of locally adapted technological packages, restricted access to finance, weak biosecurity frameworks, underdeveloped value chains, insufficient extension services, and increasing exposure to climate-related risks. By comparing Mozambique’s context with Brazil’s experience, the article identifies transferable strategies, such as strengthening research and extension systems, promoting sustainable and diversified production models, encouraging private-sector participation and cooperativism, and the development of aquapark models. The article concludes with strategic recommendations aimed at unlocking the subsector’s potential and positioning aquaculture as a key driver of sustainable development and economic resilienc in Mozambique.