Analysis Sub-Saharan Africa Extensive or intensive fish farming?

The debate continues on whether to recommend intensive or extensive fish farming to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

xtensive fish farming usually refers growing food crops, and then by to fish farming conducted in diversifying the farmer’s activities over a Emedium- to large-sized ponds or range of agriculture and non-agriculture water bodies; the fish production relies ventures in pursuit of his income merely on the natural productivity of the generating strategies. The rationale water which is only slightly or moderately behind this is to manage risk (ex ante) and enhanced. Externally supplied inputs are to cope with loss (ex post). limited; costs are kept low; capital investment is restricted; the quantity of The strategies devised will have to take fish produced per unit area is low. In brief, into account his assets (resources, human the control over the production factors is capital, know-how) and his investment kept low. The return on labour is high. capacities. To carry out his strategies and best achieve his objectives, enabling Intensive fish farming, on the other hand, market conditions need to be present. implies that the quantity of fish produced These are essentially a market system for per unit of rearing area is great. To agricultural and non-agricultural factors intensify the culture, production factors, and products. For instance, food or labour such as feed, quality of water and quality scarcities can alter performance of the of stocked fingerlings, are controlled to markets and prevent the farmer from improve the production conditions. There achieving his objectives. is steady monitoring during the production cycle. In support of his strategies, the farmer aims at optimizing the use of resources in It goes without saying that all these his reach, putting to use unused or controls entail high-tech practices and underused resources. The objective capital-intensive investments, which add reason for going into fish farming is, to the production costs. The returns must therefore, the expected return to be made justify increased production costs. The from fish farming. The choice of contribution of natural productivity into income-generating activities, amongst fish production is low or negligible. several options available, is made on the Besides this, intensive fish farming carries grounds of their expected returns and with it high costs or threats to the risks involved. environment. Farmers can be largely divided into three Apart from these two forms of fish categories: farming, some speak about semi-intensive fish farming, referring to intermediate • those with little resources and practices, taking elements of both forms. land, no cash, short of labour, who This is, however, ill-defined. are risk-prone and try to diversify their production in spreading Before suggesting which of these forms is risks, but who have little to he recommended, one should look at manoeuvring range; the context under which fish farming is practised. What are the farmer’s • those with more resources, objectives? The first objective is to ensure on-farm and off-farm; and food security/livelihood for his household. This can be secured, firstly, by • the rich ones.

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he first group of farmers will basket weaving, herbalist activities, wine practise fish farming as a or beer production, and so on). These Tcomplementary or supplementary incomes are often quite important, as they activity, while the two other groups can are part of the risk-spreading strategy to envisage fish farming as an secure a living. income-generating activity on its own. In cases of failure of agricultural This means that, for the first group, fish production due to climatic or other farming needs to be integrated into a reasons, farmers will increasingly rely on whole farm system, while, in the other off-farm income to tide over the critical two cases, it could stand on its own and period, though, in some cases, as in rural develop into a primary economic activity. Mozambique, off-farm income has no discernible effect on calorie availability. The greater the role fish production plays in the generation of income, the larger the A possible explanation might be that market needs to be to absorb the off-farm activities are primarily accessible produced supply. The less fish is to men, while women are mostly produced, the greater will be the home responsible for the supply of food. consumption of the fish produced. Non-farm income-generating activities Many smallholder farmers, except for the are also important to provide means to poorest ones, have off-farm incomes pay for hired labour in agriculture; (trading activities, handicraft production, women will have to depend more on

24 SAMUDRA NOVEMBER 1996 Analysis mobilizing inter- and intra-household • fish production has proved to linkages to provide for extra labour. provide excellent returns to land and labour and is, therefore, a Cash incomes are also important for the profitable production; and purchase of planting material or fish seed and farm inputs, as formal credit facilities • fish is a high-value commodity. from banking institutions are not available. Incomes generated through On the negative side, several constraints off-farm work, sales of cash and food restraining the adoption of fish farming crops contribute to the emergence of food must be considered. These, mainly, are: and non-food markets with effective demands. With the monetisation of the • the ability to master the know-how economy, reliance on non-market of the new technology; relations, such as informal or exchange labour, is regressing; hired labour to be • the security of land tenure, which paid for in cash and kind is increasing. For justifies the setting up of a costly instance, in Nigeria, traditional patterns of investment (the construction of the gender role in agriculture are changing, pond); and resulting in increased participation of Igbo women in agricultural production • the access to fish seed, to stock the due to greater male participation in pond, and to a market, to sell the non-farm activities and in wage fish. employment. In certain countries, access to wetland Alternative productive activities with areas can be more difficult, as they are a little requirements for capital will be common property resource, as in Malawi. favoured. These offer a rapid return on Secure land tenure should not be investment, which can incorporate understood in its formal sense since, as marginal labour force (children or the such, it is not a necessary condition for elderly). investments on land.

Any move into fish farming will be Social and cultural institutions, which supported by an assessment of the assure individuals that they are part of a required conditions, i.e. suitable land stable, equitable, well-adapted set of (water-logged soil or proximity to a water rights and duties, give the tenure stream), availability of water and inputs arrangements meaning. Also, security of (agricultural by-products and manure), land tenure is less important if the the anticipated returns from the available investment pay-back period is short. resources, and whether these are greater than those (expected or real) generated by The various types of fish farming other uses of the same resources accessible to farmers in rural or pen-urban (production of rice in marsh areas, areas in developing countries are, compared to that of fish), and expected essentially, fish farming in earthen ponds, marketing facilities for the fish produced. irrigated rice fields, dams and reservoirs, and in pen or cages. The benefits generated by fish farming are: Irrigation The ponds are either drainable, i.e. fed • a homestead pond has multiple from an irrigation canal or rainfed, or purposes and contributes to non-drainable, dug in the water table. increasing overall farm Existing irrigated rice fields can be used. productivity; This is done by stocking them with fish • fish is an important ingredient in and shrimps. Fisheries production in human nutrition, as a source of dams, reservoirs and natural water bodies animal protein, as a tasty relish can be enhanced by stocking fish in them. and as a prestige food; Further, pens and cages can be set up in dams, reservoirs and lakes to rear fish.

SAMUDRA NOVEMBER 1996 25 The bulk of fish produced in sub-Saharan labour force, and the use of hired labour Africa by fish farming comes from ponds must be minimized. and irrigated rice fields. What should be the level of intensity of fish farming? Once these conditions are met and fish

Analysis Analysis Before recommending anything, it farming is adopted by the farmers, the fish should be remembered that fish farming produced can be self-consumed and thus can only be envisaged as an economic contribute to the household food security. activity and, therefore, there is a need to However, sustainability of fish farming investigate the prerequisites for the will be enhanced if there is an excess of establishment of a healthy farmed-fish farmed-fish production, a fair outlet for market. Amongst these, successful fish marketing the fish and the establishment farming is one prerequisite. of a farmed fish market.

o be successful, the technology To this effect, there must be a demand for should be feasible, productive and farmed-fish; the cumulative offer of Tprofitable. This means that fish farmed-fish produced by the fish farmers farming should be within the capacity of must meet a certain number of criteria: the the farmer—understood as the farmer’s supply must be regular, the quality of household and not as the male or female supply must be adequate and the fish heading the farming household, i.e. must fetch a fair price. The market compatible within his/her indigenous requires that enough cash be in knowledge system; be easily circulation, or at the disposal of the accommodated within his/her time or customers, to enable transactions to take labour availability, cash or capital place easily. availabilities, resources or resource base. Intensification of fish farming can only Further, fish farming should be occur if there is a discrepancy between the productive; though, if the homestead demand and supply. An increase in the pond is considered for under its pivotal supply of farmed fish can be met with an role of supporting numerous on-farm increase in the area under production, i.e. activities, it can not be assessed from the an increase of the number of producers or, mere perspective of the amount of fish alternatively, an increase in the average produced, as the benefits include an area of the fish farmer. improved overall farm performance. These multipurpose ponds provide water Another way to raise production is to for domestic use, for watering vegetables, resort to intensification. This can be livestock, trapping wild fish, serving as realized by improved fish feed, by bioreactors to dispose wastes, and so on. improving the size and quality of the fish, and by increasing the water quality. Also, the amounts of fish harvested from Compounding and pelleting feed to a pond are differently assessed, according reduce wastage and to meet the to expectations. For poor farmers, a few nutritional requirements of the fish is, for small fish harvested from a pond instance, an improvement over the use of erratically fed can be a definite domestic wastes as feed improvement to a diet; the marginal benefits of this production are Different strains substantial. ‘Productive’ is, therefore, a Strains selected for faster growth, late relative and not an absolute term. maturity, male monosex fish, diploid and triploid fish, association with a predator, Finally, the profitability of fish farming association of fish with various feeding can be assessed in comparison to other regimes, artificial aeration of the water to productions. To be profitable, costs improve the dissolved oxygen to enable should be kept at bay, meaning that the higher stocking densities, and veterinary inputs should be drawn, as much as control to prevent health and disease possible, out of the farmer’s resources problems, are all technological base, making best use of underused improvements to raise output. by-products of farm activities. Labour requirements must be, as far as possible, Intensification will call for specialization accommodated within the available in the various stages (feed preparation,

26 SAMUDRA NOVEMBER 1996 Analysis seed production) of production, which autonomy of fish farming activities, since, entails [he transfer of technology, the soon, on-farm resources alone are not establishment of production units of the enough to support the increased specialized sub-products (feed, seed) for production requirements, and inputs intensified fish farming. This requires have to be provided from outside the capital and investment, but also the farm, with all the attendant consequences. market to sustain these operations at a large enough scale to be profitable. In many sub-Saharan African countries, fish farming production is low and could ide effects, in terms of potentially contribute much more to rural environmental damages, for economies. The first priority is to promote Sinstance, polluted water emissions the adoption of fish farming on a wider from farms, destruction of ecological scale, either for home consumption or for buffer zones such as marshes and income generation. mangroves, destruction of biodiversity in these habitats, release of genetically The technological options so far extended transformed fish species and the have not been sufficiently integrated introduction of exotic species in natural within indigenous knowledge systems to waters result from fish farming. These establish a solid and consistent effects tend to increase as fish farming gets farmed-fish production base. intensified. Overdependence Further, preparation of commercial feed The reasons for this failure stem from too relies heavily on fishmeal, made of small much dependence on inputs (fish seed, pelagics fished at sea. This is not the most feed) provided from outside, which could sensible way to make use of fish protein, not be provided reliably or which needed nor is it the most economical way to cash to be procured, and a lack or produce fish. inadequate integration of the activities within the whole farm system. In brief, intensification of fish farming tends to be an increasingly Once locally adapted and sustainable market-oriented production, often a forms of fish farming have developed and monoculture, with poor waste begin expanding, then the supply and, management. It is oriented towards concomitantly, the demand can be short-term economic benefit and profit, expected to steadily increase. With the mostly at the cost of the environment. adoption of fish farming production as an Intensification of production leads to an economic activity, a factor and product

SAMUDRA NOVEMBER 1996 27 market will be established. An increase of species to produce uniform, large-size the area under production will be specimens. Feeding and maintenance of followed by a move towards an increase the ponds are done with bulky, cheap in quantity and improvements in quality. agricultural by-products, available

Analysis Analysis The existing situation of many rural locally. economies suffers from a vicious circle. Fish farming development in rural areas he production of smallholder must find its own, domestically adapted farmers is low, just enough to production technology, integrated in the Tsurvive but below the level where local context. There is no “blueprint” it could generate some income-enabling technology that could be recommended; investments; the production is poor the technology must be developed by because inputs (fertilizers and improved farmers, possibly with the assistance of seeds) are not used since there is no cash scientists. If fish farming as an economic (or credit) to purchase them; due to production is expected to take off, it shortage of agricultural and should be offered adequate markets. non-agricultural Incomes, there is shortage of agricultural labour during the Intensification of fish farming appears peak demand (for clearing, weeding, where there is a greater demand for ridging), leading to low yields. farmed fish, i.e. in the vicinity of towns and cities. This intensification is not meant Smallholder farmers produce essentially to please the promoters of fish farming nor the same range of food crops, which are is it the result of development efforts. It is all harvested at the same time, flood the the result of the existence of an effective local market and fetch very low prices market. when the seasonal demand is low. In many cases, there are no facilities to Effective market collect the goods and bring them to The intensification carried out is mainly markets where there is a demand. labour-intensive, not capital-intensive. Specialization in sub-products of the If the surplus production is collected, the production process, such as the pegging bulk of the profits goes to the middlemen. and construction of the pond, and the There is no incentive to increase production of fingerlings for stocking agricultural production. Goods are not have also occurred. available in the local markets because of insufficient effective demand; such demand will not emerge unless smallholders can generate increased cash incomes through off-farm work or greater sales of cash or food crops.

Within this environment, the production of a highly perishable commodity, such as fish, can not be advocated without due consideration for its marketing. The conditions for establishment of a market with an effective demand for food crops, including fish, are found in the vicinity of urban areas.

It is in those areas that sustainable forms of semi-artisanal fish fanning have appeared in many sub-Saharan African countries. The process of intensification This article is by Guy Delince, an of fish farming has concentrated on independent fisheries planning advisor from Belgium labour-intensive, and not capital-intensive, production factors. Fish are selected and associated with predator

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