Aquaculture farming empowers rural poor

Dressed in an old pair of slippers, James Chitonya of Somba
Village in Traditional Authority Malemia picks a 25kg sack. With it he heads towards his three fishponds about 200 metres away from his mud and grass thatched house.

In the sack there are maize husks. He uses the maize husks to feed the fish in the ponds. The WorldFish Center has just introduced him to aquaculture farming and he is confident he will benefit from it.

But this was about four years ago. Today Chitonya no longer sleeps in a grass-thatched house and no longer puts on torn slippers. He is one of the many aquaculture farmers in Malawi who are benefiting from the fishing activities. Chitonya said with the money he gets from aquaculture farming he has managed to build a house with an iron
sheet roof and put in electricity. “I am also able to pay schools fees for my children and buy them clothes. In addition I have bough some livestock from the sales of fish,” he said.

Friday Nikoloma, another aquaculture farmer, of Mlenga Village in Traditional Authority Changata in Thyolo District said he was earning annually over K1 million($8,500) from fish sales.

The government of Malawi in collaboration with the local and international organizations is encouraging local communities to engage in aquaculture farming with an aim of empowering them economically.

“The price of fish in the country has increased dramatically and this coupled with the high demand for fish, provides significant opportunities for commercial aquaculture in Malawi,” said Joseph Nagoli, Senior Research Officer at the WorldFish Centre.He said commercial aquaculture has the ability to improve the economy and contribute towards economic growth and job creation.

Since the 1970s food supply, in terms of animal protein,has decreased by 40 per cent. This decline is largely and directly related to fully utilized fisheries and population increases, such that the yield cannot meet the demand. “Aquaculture is key to providing the future basic requirements of the people of Malawi. It also provides new opportunities for income generation by rural farmers,” said
Nagoli.

The WorldFish Centre, an autonomous nonprofit international scientific research organization aims at reducing poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture. In Malawi the center focuses in developing and transferring of integrated aquaculture-agriculture technologies and
enhancing of farmed tilapia by selective breeding among others.

It is estimated that there are over 6000 small-holder aquaculture farmers and according to the Centre there was slow growth in aquaculture from the 1900s to around 1990s, “however, aquaculture is now growing faster from about 200 farmers in the 1990s to more than 6000 now after the introduction of integrated aquaculture-agriculture
concept.”

Ron Chokani from Mchinji district has been in the aquaculture farming since 1996. He said he went into the business after visiting one of the fish farming projects by the defunct Malawi-German Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (Magfad) programme. After being introduced to the programme and its benefits to the rural people, Chokani thought it was time to try his luck.

“It proved to be profitable,” he recalled, adding, “But for it to be successful there is need for a reliable water supply. Water from the pond could also be used to irrigate vegetables. ”Chokani said the demand for fish in his area is high, which he said he could not meet.

“We would like to encourage as many people as possible to venture into aquaculture farming. The more people are engaged in aquaculture farming the more their poverty is reduced,” he said. But Chokani said there was need for fisheries officials to intensify their field visits to the farmers to encourage them and how to keep their fish properly.

A report published by the Department of Fisheries about two years ago shows that aquaculture is playing very important roles in the rural households of Malawi and its contribution at micro-economics level include income generation, nutrition and opportunity for agricultural
diversification.

The Department believes that failure of fish production in natural water bodies to keep pace with the human population growth and the demand to maintain high fish consumption patterns inherent in traditional diets has necessitated that “serious considerations be given to commercial fish farming.”

The total fish production from aquaculture is about 800 tonnes per year, representing about 1.3 per cent of the total fish caught from natural waters.

Director of Fisheries Dr. Sloans Chimatiro said it was the policy of government to optimize fish self-sufficiency in rural areas by increasing sustainable aquaculture productivity and to increase farm income by diversifying their production.