Course Details - Aquaculture Smallholder Business Development
Aquaculture: a sector on the rise
On a global scale aquaculture has shown a steady growth in the past decades. Seafood products from aquaculture production are now equal to the amount supplied by capture fisheries, The global demand for fish or aquatic products is driven by population growth and a growing awareness of the positive impact of consumption of aquatic products on human health. In Europe and North America the local production and supply of fishery products are not sufficient to meet the demand. In response to this demand, fish and other seafood have become very important export commodities for countries in East, South and S.E. Asia.
Fish farmers as partners in agribusiness
Small fish farms constitute the majority of the world’s small and medium aquaculture enterprises. This course perceives fish farmers as autonomous entrepreneurs (and not as target groups or beneficiaries), and their organisations as aquaculture business supporters. The central question is how fish farmers, through collective action of their organisations, can better access inputs and credit, improve their production and yields in a sustainable way, manage the costs and quality of their products, create value through post-harvest operations and access more remunerative markets.
New insights, capacities and tools
By the end of the course you will have adapted your perspective on rural innovation and aquaculture business development processes and you will be motivated to become a ‘game changer’ in your country and organisation. You have gained new insights on fish farmer-inclusive business models and value chain development that can be shared share with colleagues and partners. And you will be capable to use operational approaches and practical tools to facilitate better performance and market engagement of aquaculture producer organisations.
Courses are currently online
Our courses are currently online and follow this format:
- Pre-course assignments for you to get to know WCDI and for us to get to know your work environment and your expectations about the course;
- Interactive plenary sessions where we share content, review assignments and facilitate exchanging experiences. During those interactive sessions we work with a number of online tools like Google Jamboard, Mural and Mentimeter;
- Group work either online or offline where you with other participants address a specific question or do an assignment. Results of these assignments are also shared and discussed during online sessions;
- Individual assignments where you will read literature, watch videos, and do exercises on your own. These assignments are an essential part of the learning and most of them count for getting the certificate. They are meant to introduce or deepen knowledge and make the link between theory and your own situation. These assignments are reviewed either by peers or facilitators.
In some, but not all courses we go on virtual field visits – showing you ‘live’ situations in the field, or companies or organisations that we collaborate with.
Online platforms: Zoom and TalentLMS
Internet connection is important for the completion of the course. Not sure about the connection in your area? Send training.cdi@wur.nl an e-mail about your situation.
We use Zoom as a facilitating platform for all our online courses. Our courses take place in general over a 6-8 week period to make the workload and time you spend online manageable.
Our online learning system is TalentLMS. Everything you need — our course programme, chatrooms, assignments, background information is in this system. TalentLMS is easy to operate, can also be accessed by your phone and has an on-and offline functionality. We even organise a technical check-in before the course starts, to test your facilities and get familiar with the tools.
Course planning and certificates
The course workload is approximately 16-20 hours a week (2-2.5 workdays).
The exact programme of your course will be available 2-3 weeks before the start of the course. If you’ve successfully completed your course we send you a digital certificate.