{"id":5954,"date":"2011-11-07T17:35:57","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T17:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=5954"},"modified":"2011-11-07T17:35:57","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T17:35:57","slug":"aquaculture-taking-root-in-malawi-as-lake-malawi-dries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/07\/aquaculture-taking-root-in-malawi-as-lake-malawi-dries\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquaculture taking root in Malawi as Lake Malawi dries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As scientists call for increased investments in aquaculture to reduce fishing pressures on Lake Malawi, one of the world\u2019s fresh water bodies and home to over 500 endemic species, a recent study reveals that lack of steady supply fish feed is one major challenge.\u00a0Senior scientist at the World Fish Centre in the country\u2019s Zomba city, Dr. Daniel Jamu says it is urgent that the country finds alternatives to the falling fish stocks, a source of proteins to the country\u2019s population of 13.1 million people.\u00a0\u201cYou see, our water bodies have declined and are on the edge, so it is very important that we venture into aquaculture to preserve rare fish species, especially the Chambo (Oreochromis shiranus ) which is the country\u2019s pride,\u201d he said.\u00a0But a study conducted by Priscilla Longwe of Bunda College of Agriculture has established that the supply of feed for the fish, in the country, has been poor in the past years. \u00a0Since 2008, the basic materials required for fish feed, such as maize bran, wheat bran, sunflower cake, groundnut cake, and pigeon pea cake have been scarce in the country and, hence, expensive,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A report by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) released last year warned about the need to develop early warning systems for imminent disturbances of the hydrological circle triggered by the increased precipitation and evaporation over Lake Malawi.\u00a0The report warns that the climatic conditions on the lake can either result in floods or declined lake levels.\u00a0\u201cA small increase in precipitation and evaporation ratio on Lake Malawi can result in flooding as was the case in 1979-80,\u201d says the report adding, \u201cin contrast, a small decrease in the ratio results in the basin becoming closed as was the case between 1925 and 1937.\u00a0\u201cLake Malawi\u2019s water level has been declining in recent years and the lake came near to being closed at the end of 1997,\u201d it says.\u00a0Simultaneously, the supply of fish from the lake has declined from about 30, 000 tonnes a year, in the past 15 to 20 years, to 2, 000 tonnes, according to a research outfit, Research Into Use (RIU).\u00a0RIU says declining fish stocks are a result of population growth and over fishing, among other reasons.<\/p>\n

According to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, fisheries resources contribute to the livelihoods of more than 1.6 million Malawians and almost 60,000 individuals are employed as fishers with about 450,000 engaged in fisheries-related economic activities. \u00a0The landed value of fish was MK9.4 billion (US$67.1 million) in 2008, a significant contribution to the economy\u2019s total output. Traditionally, fish has been the most affordable source of animal protein, but the real price of fish (after accounting for inflation) has increased by about 3.5 times over the period between 1987 and\u00a0 2007.\u00a0Over the same period, the population of Malawi grew by about 61 per cent from 7.9 million to about 13.1 million, while total fish supply has fallen by 20 per cent. As a consequence, per capita fish consumption has fallen from 9.4 kg to 5.4 kg between 1990 and 2008.\u00a0The output of cultured species, valued at US$ 1.4 million in 2008, has grown by 52 per cent over the period 2000 \u2013 2008, and contributes about 2 per cent of total fish production and is very far from meeting the excess demand for fish.\u00a0Longwe believes that with the necessary inputs and a constant flow of activities, an aquaculture farm of over 15 ha in Malawi, can produce up to 30 tonnes a year with associated returns of up to K9 million (US $64,286).<\/p>\n

In her study, Longwe, cites Gopi Krishna (GK) Aqua Farms as an example of a striving aquaculture industry.\u00a0She says, GK Aqua Farms, situated in Malawi\u2019s southern region district of Chikwawa with 19 ha (47 acres) of its land under water, became commercial in 2004 demonstrating its potential profitability by attaining gross margins of over K3 million (approximately US $21,430) in one year. \u00a0The farm was previously owned by the Fisheries Department, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. \u00a0\u201cThe farm raises three species of fish such as common carp (Cyprinus carpio), Tilapia rendalli and Oreochromis shiranus which are sold in the district and the neighbouring commercial city of Blantyre,\u201d she says. \u00a0\u201cSince 2004, GK Aqua Farms has had a continuous rise in production from 4.2 tonnes per year to 29.5 tonnes per year in 2008 with an expectation of similar increases over the next few years,\u201d Longwe says in her study report. \u00a0According to the report, fish farming in Malawi began as early as 1906 with the introduction of rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) for angling. \u00a0\u201cThe use of indigenous species in fish farming began in 1956\/57 with the culture of Oreochromis shiranus and Tilapia rendalli and with the establishment of the Domasi Experimental Fish Farm for the breeding and distribution of these two species to farmers,\u201d says Longwe.<\/p>\n

Pond culture is the main fish production system practiced in Malawi. Cage culture is carried out in a very few isolated cases including that by the Malawi Development Cooperation (MALDECO). \u00a0The two tilapia species, Oreochromis shiranus and Tilapia rendalli are the country\u2019s main cultured species, with growth rates exceeding 150 g (0.33 pounds) when grown for 6 months. \u00a0\u201cIt is for this reason that they are considered the most suitable fish for culture by small-scale fish farmers in Malawi,\u201d Longwe points out and explains that the Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), a faster growing exotic species, was introduced into Malawi in 1976 but further importation and distribution to farmers was later prohibited in line with the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (1997), which restricted the introduction of exotic species to protect Malawi\u2019s fish biodiversity. \u00a0Currently Malawi has 7000 to 8000 fish ponds covering an estimated total area of 208 ha however only about 4, 000 are operational, according to RIU. \u00a0The annual fish production in 2009 from aquaculture was estimated at2000 tonnes, a significant increase from the previous estimate of 800 tonnes.\u00a0The increase is attributed to the introduction of different culture facilities in some of the commercial farms in the country, such as the introduction of cages at the MALDECO farm. \u00a0Longwe says \u201cpolicy makers and researchers should work on challenges that are faced by aquaculture investors in Malawi in order to improve the economic figures of the country\u2019s fish farms\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As scientists call for increased investments in aquaculture to reduce fishing pressures on Lake Malawi, one of the world\u2019s fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[1323,432,849,289,233],"class_list":["post-5954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-aquaculture","tag-farming","tag-fish","tag-lake-malawi","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}