Fish farming suitable for smallholders

For a very long time fish has been captured from lakes and rivers by fishermen. Fish hunting exposes fishermen to a lot of risks including drowning and attacks by crocodiles and other beasts. Fish is one of the most traded food items in Uganda but it is getting scarcer because of the big demand for it as our population grows bigger.

There has been a tendency of overfishing on the lakes and it is a real threat to the survival of some fish species.  The government has as a result become more vigilant in fighting bad fishing practices and it has deployed security guards all along the lake shores in a bid to regulate fish production and the fishing trade.  As a result thousands of people who earned a living from fish-related economic activities along the lake shores have gone out of employment.  Fish is a big source of foreign exchange and even its local market is widely available.

Control measures

Paul Ssekyewa a leading fish farmer in Masaka sub-region believes that lakes and rivers should be regulated.

“Mere deployment of security forces on the lakes is not enough,” he says. “There ought to be officially selected lake shores where all fishermen and their boats and generating capacity as well as the fish gears are digitally registered. After registration all the fishermen should be handed chips to electronically indicate their location wherever they are on the lake. The fishermen should be directed to report back to the appointed lake shores for inspection and examination of the fish that has been captured. That way it will be easy to monitor the fish net size that is used to catch which fish. The offices at such shores should be operational, day and night, sending out patrol boats to check on what the fishermen are doing. Right now there is a bit of relaxation on the part of the security organs guarding the lake. Otherwise how does immature fish from Uganda find its way in the Democratic Republic of Congo? And how do illegal fish nets find their way into the country?”

He argues that there are areas in the lake where no fishing should be allowed to take place because they are breeding areas for the fish. He further says regulation should include stopping people from fishing during the months of June, July and August when the lake is turbulent and fishing boats are more prone to capsizing. He explains that when no fishing takes place for such period the fish have time to grow and multiply.

Ssekyewa is of the view that the people living on the lake shores and who have been deprived of free access to the lake for fishing activities should be sensitised about the regulatory measures.

“These are communities whose people have always thrived on fishing. Suddenly, and cruelly taking them off the lake can make them hate it and even lead them to poisoning it. They should not feel deprived of its ownership since it has always been their source of livelihood. They should be mobilised to form cooperative societies and given training in fish pond construction and fish cage farming,” Ssekyewa says.

Here’s help

Ester Nabbanja, Lwengo District Fisheries Officer, has told Seeds of Gold that, her office gives guidance to interested farmers about where to get good quality fish seed and feeds. 

“We also encourage people to take up fish farming in wetlands as long as the legal restrictions on fish farming in the swamps are observed. Normally it is only people growing crops and those settling in wetlands that are driven away,” she says.

A fish seed producer himself, Ssekyewa says intending farmers should be guided by District Fisheries Officers where to go for quality fingerings (seed) and fish feeds. He also wants a change in the way fish farming is taught.

“Fisheries officers should  be enabled to spend some time on fish farms in renowned fish producing countries such as China or Norway and learn more practically how things are done,” he suggests.

Attractive

Lwengo District Principal Agriculture Officer, Peter Bamwesigye, says fish farming is a viable enterprise that should attract the youth who can find land to make fish ponds.

“Thirty percent of the Parish Development Model funds is allocated to the youth and this is money that they can use to start lucrative projects such as fish farming, especially if they work in groups,” says Bamwesigye.

“They are also beneficiaries of Youth Livelihood Programme funds which they can also use to cultivate fish. Fish farming is one of the fast money generating economic activities that young people should take up because it takes a short time to mature and may be ready for harvest in just eight months.”

Management

Farmers can control the number and type of fish in the ponds. Catherine Nazziwa, an aquaculture economist at National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) says; “Fish reproduce so rapidly. One Tilapia fish is capable of producing from 100 to 500 young ones in just four months. Many other fish species reproduce quite rapidly. So if a farmer puts, perhaps, two thousand young tilapia fish in a pond, he or she may end up with too many fish to feed. The pond may become too small for the big number of fish. To avoid such situations we give out a specific number of same sex seed fish to the farmers so that the farmer can plan his feeding expenses properly.”  She says.

According to Dan Bukenya, a prominent fish farmer in Lwengo District, feeding fish should not be a great worry for the farmer because they feed on simple things such as insects, algae and some plants.