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Fish-farming in Sub-Saharan Africa - profits waiting to be netted

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Title Fish-farming in Sub-Saharan Africa - profits waiting to be netted
 
Creator Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
 
Description Fish-farming is a long-standing and traditional activity in Asia, but it is relatively new to Africa, arriving only in the last half century or so. Its potential has yet to be developed:' me annual tonnage of fish, approximately 10,000t, accounts for only 0.1% of world production. But the increasing demand for fish, especially in urban areas, means that there is likely to be a boom in aquaculture.



African fish-farming can be classified into several categories. At the rawest end of the scale is 'family' aquaculture. the peasant farmer will dig out a pond by hand, with the help of family members, to rear tilapia for his domestic consumption only. This practice is common in many francophone African countries and often receives considerable aid from international organizations or NGOs for the breeding of young fish, extension and training work, personnel, etc. However! the result) are universally disappointing, the farmers are not motivated, yields are low and incomes poor. The second category is small-scale commercial aquaculture, which is beginning to be a significant factor, especially close to cities. The difference between this and family fish-fanning is that it is essentially a business concern which necessitates buying in materials and marketing the produce. For this reason fish-farmers establish their businesses close to towns in order to make use of the urban infrastructure and the marketing potential. FAO has developed a project of this type in Cote d'lvoire, in the Bouake and Daloa regions. About 50 farmers have dug out their own ponds and now breed their own young stock and rear them with the help of the project staff. Research has shown that it is these small or medium-scale ventures which seem to have me best chance of succeeding.



The characteristic of the third category, 'network' aquaculture, is mat its different stages (hatcheries, fish-feed processing, fish production) are separated.



This system is well-suited to some areas, for example where there are lakes, lagoons or water courses. The lagoons of Cote d'lvoire have rearing projects in enclosures and cages, and Niger has set up cage culture schemes in the river. It particularly suits some sectors of the population for example it can provide an alternative living for fishermen when their traditional sources of income are insufficient, and city businessmen are able to invest capital in the hope of significant returns. However, further research into the ideal environment for fish-rearing and into improving feed is still necessary.



The final category - 'industrial', large-scale aquaculture - is carried out in sizeable production units. It depends on high productivity and, for example, raceways, tanksorcages, which demand considerable capital outlay. Burkina Faso set up the Banfora Aquaculture project of intensive-system fish production with cages and raceways, but hatchery and feed probleme forced it to close down in 1936. An industrial fish farm in Brazzaville (Congo) forecast tilapia production of 500 tonnes per annum in concrete raceways using water pumped up from me nearby river. This enterprise was also bedevilled by numerous technical problems which slowed production, and financial results were well down on the forecasts. At present this type of fish culture is extremely problematic in that the cost of production is still considerably higher than the sale price.



All these categories of fish-farming are surveyed in Aquaculture in sub-Saharan Africa, which has just been published by the French Ministry of Cooperation. It analyses the current state-of-the-art and suggests some future directions. Particularly useful are me many case studies used to support the theories put forward by the authors, and the analysis of socio-economic factors, especially the market study comparing farmed and wild fish. Also described in this book is 30 years' experience of experimental research done in the field. It addresses the problems of the training need to improve the technical and professional skills of African aquaculturalists.



Fish-farming in sub-Saharan Africa, case studies in the francophone countries - proposals for future action, research report by Jerome Lazard, Yves Lecompte, Bozena Stomal and Jean-Yves Weige

ISBN 211 086732 9 Price 120ff

Distributed by AGRIDOC International

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Fish-farming in sub-Saharan Africa, case studies in the francophone countries - proposals for future action, research report by Jerome Lazard, Yves Lecompte, Bozena Stomal and Jean-Yves Weige
ISBN 211 086732 9 Price 120ff
Distributed by AGRIDOC Intern
 
Date 2014-10-08T13:41:15Z
2014-10-08T13:41:15Z
1992
 
Type News Item
 
Identifier CTA. 1992. Fish-farming in Sub-Saharan Africa - profits waiting to be netted. Spore 38. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
1011-0054
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/45712
 
Language en
 
Relation Spore, Spore 38
 
Publisher CTA
 
Source Spore