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A strategic assessment of warm-water fish farming potential in Africa












Kapetsky, J.M.A strategic assessment of warm water fish farming potential in Africa. CIFA Technical Paper. No. 27. Rome, FAO. 1994. 67p.


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    A strategic reassessment of fish farming potential in Africa 1998
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    The present study is an update of an earlier assessment of warm-water fish farming potential in Africa, by Kapetsky (1994). The objective of this study was to assess locations and areal expanses that have potential for warm-water and temperate-water fish farming in continental Africa. The study was based on previous estimates for Africa by the above author, and on estimates of potential for warm-water and temperate-water fish farming in Latin America by Kapetsky and Nath (1997). However, a nu mber of refinements have been made. The most important refinement was that new data allowed a sevenfold increase in resolution over that used in the previous Africa study, and a twofold increase over that of Latin America (i.e. to 3 arc minutes, equivalent to 5 km x 5 km grids at the equator), making the present results more usable in order to assess fish farming potential at the national level. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to evaluate each grid cell on the basis of severa l land-quality factors important for fish-farm development and operation regardless of the fish species used. Protected areas, large inland water bodies and major cities were identified as constraint areas, and were excluded from any fish farming development altogether. Small-scale fish farming potential was assessed on the basis of four factors: water requirement from ponds due to evaporation and seepage, soil and terrain suitability for pond construction based on a variety of soil attributes a nd slopes, availability of livestock wastes and agricultural by-products as feed inputs based on manure and crop potential, and farm-gate sales as a function of population density. For commercial farming, an urban market potential criterion was added based on population size of urban centres and travel time proximity. Both small-scale and commercial models were developed by weighting the above factors using a multi-criteria decision-making procedure. A bioenergetics model was incorporated int o the GIS to predict, for the first time, fish yields across Africa. A gridded water temperature data set was used as input to a bioenergetics model to predict number of crops per year for the following three species: Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and Common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Similar analytical approaches to those by Kapetsky and Nath (1997) were followed in the yield estimation. However, different specifications were used for small-scale and co mmercial farming scenarios in order to reflect the types of culture practices found in Africa. Moreover, the fish growth simulation model, documented in Kapetsky and Nath (1997), was refined to enable consideration of feed quality and high fish biomass in ponds. The small-scale and commercial models derived from the land-quality evaluation were combined with the yield potential of each grid cell for each of the three fish species to show the coincidence of each land-quality suitability class with a range of yield potentials. Finally, the land quality-fish yield potential combinations were put together to show where the fish farming potential coincided for the three fish species. The results are generally positive. Estimates of the quality of land show that about 23% of continental Africa scored very suitable for both small-scale and commercial fish farming. For the three fish species, 50-76% of Africa's land has the highest yield range potential, and the spatial distribution of th is yield is quite similar among the species and farming systems. However, the spatial distribution of carp culture potential was greater than for Nile tilapia and African catfish. Combining the two farming system models with the favourable yields of the three fish species suggest that over 15% of the continent has land areas with high suitability for pond aquaculture.
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    A strategic assessment of the potential for freshwater fish farming in the Caribbean Island States. / Una evaluación estratégica de la potencialidad para la piscicultura dulceacuícola en los Estados Insulares del Caribe. 1998
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    This report describes the potential for inland fish farming among the Caribbean Island States based on methods used in an earlier study (“A strategic assessment of the potential for freshwater fish farming in Latin America”, COPESCAL Technical Paper, No. 10, 1997) to estimate freshwater fish farming potential in Latin America. Four criteria were used to estimate potential for small-scale fish farming in ponds: water loss, potential for farm gate sales, soil and terrain suitability for ponds and availability of agriculture by-products as feed or fertilizer inputs. A fifth criterion was added in order to estimate potential for commercial fish farming: urban market potential. These criteria were weighted in different ways to make small-scale and commercial fish farming models on the basis of expert advice. Numbers of crops per year of Nile tilapia and common carp were predicted based on monthly climatic variables. By varying feeding levels and harvest sizes small-scale and commercial leve l outputs were simulated. Combining the small-scale and commercial models with the simulations of fish production provided overall suitability ratings for each 5 are minute grid (approximately 9 × 9 km). Field verifications were carried out in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. The results suggest good potential for freshwater fish farming among many of the Caribbean Island States with relatively large areas rating very suitable or suitable for the combined criteria and with relatively high crops/year output of the species considered. The results of the field verifications indicated the importance of local knowledge for the interpretation of the predictions.

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