Mozambique: Blue economy fund ProAzul seeks $900M to finance projects

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Mozambique: Blue economy fund ProAzul seeks $900M to finance projects

11:37 CAT | 08 Nov 2025

Photo: Ministério da Agricultura, Ambiente e Pescas

The Mozambican Blue Economy Development Fund (ProAzul) needs US$900 million to finance projects aimed at the fishing value chain, involving artisanal fishermen and small businesses, it announced on Friday.

“We have an obligation, as an institution, to ensure the funding mechanism for this strategy, which wants US$900 million,” said Caldas Chemane, ProAzul’s financial expert, on the sidelines of the first ordinary session of the Blue Economy Council in Maputo.

According to Chemane, work is underway to involve partners and institutions in planning the budget needed for activities in the public and private sectors.

He said that the amount needed should also fund the “MaisPeixe Sustentável” programme, which supports the fishing sector in central and northern Mozambique by financing artisanal fishermen and small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to ProAzul’s financial expert, the fund is currently facing challenges linked to the high costs of implementing inspections and difficulties in monitoring the dynamics of violations during marine exploitation, especially by fishermen.

“It’s a big challenge (…) to ensure that fishermen don’t violate the bounds,” said Caldas Chemane, adding that one of ProAzul’s objectives is to fund community fishing councils, also to support coastal enforcement.

At the same event, the executive secretary for the Sea and Fisheries, Momade Juízo, expressed the government’s intention to support and lead the blue economy agenda with “dedication and a patriotic sense”, calling for coordinated work between the government and partners to make Mozambique’s blue potential sustainable.

“We renew our call for collective and coordinated work between the government, cooperation partners, the private sector, academia and civil society, because only together can we transform Mozambique’s blue potential into sustainable prosperity for our people,” said Momade Arnaldo Juízo

France has provided 100,000 euros for a platform to respond to the challenges of access to water and alternative incomes to sustainable fishing, benefiting 14,786 people by diversifying sources of income in the province of Nampula, northern Mozambique, announced a statement from the Development Aid Association of People to People (ADPP) Mozambique, one of the organisations in the consortium responsible for implementing the project called “Futuro Azul”, which is part of ProAzul.

The one-year programme, funded by the French government, also aims to strengthen the resilience of coastal ecosystems and, at the same time, improve the livelihoods of local communities, mainly in the Memba district of Nampula province.

Artisanal fishing continues to account for the bulk of the sector’s annual volume in Mozambique. It involves almost 400,000 people and more than 42,000 boats in both inland and maritime waters, according to the 2022 census released last year.

German Development Cooperation and Proazul also announced on 14 October that they will disburse 450 million meticais (€6 million) for the sustainable development of the blue economy in Mozambique.

Source: Lusa