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Fish farmers in rural communities:: Results of a Survey in Northwestern Province of Zambia

Results of a survey in northwestern province of Zambia

Year of publication 1992

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages p.45

Author Wijkstrom, U.N.,Larsson, R.

Product type Project

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) At the request of the Government of Zambia (GOZ), ALCOM surveyed farmers with fish ponds in the North Western Province during the second quarter of 1988. The objectives of the survey were: to determine the current status and future prospects of tilapia pond culture. to examine the characteristics of subsistence fish farmers, and constraints faced by them. The survey was carried out by staff from the Department of Fisheries and ALCOM, assisted by investigators and interpreters recruited for the survey. About 10% of the Province's known 1372 subsistence fish farmers were interviewed. The survey indicated that subsistence farmers harvested about 50 tons of tilapia during 1988. This was equivalent to about 6.6 kg per individual in the concerned households. The average physical productivity of the earthen gravity-fed ponds was low; about 4 kg per 100m2 per year. It is estimated that just below 20% of the production was taken out though intermittent harvesting (hook and line), the re st in major harvests, one or two per year. Ponds were seldom if ever drained. Some fish were left behind to reproduce. The tilapia farmed by subsistence farmers was expected to register production increases of about 5% per year, if existing ponds were kept in workable condition. This increase would come about through a rise in the total pond surface area, as an increase in physical productivity of ponds was not likely in the immediate future. The average subsistence fish farmer is better edu cated, more influential, and likely to be economically better off than the average head of a farming household in the Province. A comparison between farmers who have been introduced to tilapia culture through a recent aid project (ICARA) and other farmers, shows that prior to the ICARA project the characteristics described above for a fish farmer were even more pronounced.

Language English

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    This report presents recommendations for modifications to the procedures and questionnaires used during the pilot survey, as well as the rationale for those modifications. The pilot survey was carried out in the Northern Province of Zambia in October 1987. The survey team included two aquaculturists, Mr Hans Aase (with project GCP/INT/436/SWE) and Mr H.C. Kabunda of the Misamfu Fish Farm, Northern Province; and two sociologists, Ms Phebby Ntembe and Ms Nelly Mazingaliwa. The four assembled in Lusaka before spending three weeks in the field. During that time 89 interviews were carried out. They included 46 interviews with farmers practising tilapia farming, 22 with farmers who used to raise tilapia in ponds, and 21 with individuals believed to be potential fish-farmers. The survey team travelled in two four-wheel drive vehicles placed at the disposal of the survey by NORAD. Three out of four interviews were conducted in the mother tongue of the respondent. None of the farmers contac ted by the survey teams refused to be interviewed, and none terminated the interview on his own initiative. Those who carried out the survey found no serious discrepancies between what they observed and the findings as reported (Results of a Socio-Economic Pilot Survey on Fish - Farmers in Rural Communities in the Northern Province of Zambia, October 1987). There are a few additional data which might be useful for the survey results, and which might be collected without any major additional effort. They are: depth of ponds, water-flow through ponds and destination of run-off water, distance between main household compound and pond, feed and fertilizer - their use and availability. The pilot survey as a part of the “Current situation and outlook” intended to establish the “health” of existing fish pond through comparison of an estimated rate of production at a normal rate. This proved not to be possible.
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    A study of fish farmers in North-Western Province, Zambia, June 1989 1993
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    In June 1989, ALCOM carried out a socio-economic study of the relationship between small-scale rural aquaculture and farming systems in Mwinilunga District, North-Western Province, Zambia. Informal interviews were held with 23 randomly selected fish farmer households. ALCOM's 1988 fish farmer survey in the province served as the background for a deeper study of production achievements, management practices, labour and resource allocations, harvesting strategies and disposal of harvested fish. The Farming Systems classifications defined by the Adaptive Research Planning Team (ARPT), the Zambian research body on farming systems, constituted the reference against which fish farming activities were investigated. There are two major farming systems in Mwinilunga District: “the traditional cassava-based subsistence shifting cultivation system”, encompassing the majority of households; and the “small-scale semi-commercial farming system”, practised by about 10% of the households. Of the i nterviewed households, 13 belonged to the “semi-commercial” group and 10 to the “subsistence” group. Production from fish ponds is low, in most cases within the range of 3–6 kg/are annually. Semi-commercial farmers produce more fish than subsistence farmers; motivated by their higher returns, they expand farms more often, using their own means. New ponds, however, are smaller and have a shorter life-span than the ponds built by subsidies provided by externally funded projects in the 1980s. P onds are inadequately fertilized. The main reason is scarcity of manure. The available manure is applied mainly during the cold dry season, both to fish ponds and vegetable gardens, not during the warm rainy season when the fish grows. Seasonal shortage of labour to collect and apply manure is one reason. Semi-commercial farmers have better manured ponds than subsistence farmers, the most apparent reason being their more numerous farm animals (cattle, goats and chickens).
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