By Joshua Kato and Carol Kasujja
When Betty Nakityo attended a half-day workshop on fish farming in 2022, she rushed back to her farm in Zirobwe and decided to implement what she had learnt.
“The trainer had advised us to seek expert knowledge in digging the ponds and stocking them, but I thought I had enough knowledge,” she says.
Six months later and after investing over sh10m, the fish were swept off into a nearby swamp during the rainy season.
“I made losses and decided to abandon fish farming,” Nakityo says.
However, she is not alone. According to a research by experts, many fish farmers have abandoned the venture due to various reasons.
“Many farms are established and abandoned because of lack of technical support, knowledge and feeds,” Dr Ronald Semyalo, a lecturer in the department of zoology entomology and fisheries at the School of Biological Sciences, Makerere University, says.
Naome Aciru, an aquaculture specialist and consultant, puts the percentage of abandoned fish farms at about 35%.
“Farmers abandon them over various issues, including running out of funds to buy feeds, poor choice of sites, wrong selection of fingerlings etc.
Semyalo said abandoned farms also hinder the use of the environment for other activities because of the ponds that are dug out on the land.
He also urged farmers to get the right technical support from the beginning, otherwise they will end up establishing ponds in permanent wetlands or in an area that is prone to flooding.
Fish farming in Uganda
According to the agriculture ministry, Uganda produces up to 130,000 tonnes of fish from aquaculture per year, including production from small-scale fish farmers, emerging commercial fish farmers and stocked community water reservoirs and minor lakes.
There are an estimated 20,000 ponds countrywide, with an average surface area of 500m² per pond.
Busia, Tororo, Namayingo, Bugiri and Mayuge districts have a considerable number of fish ponds because of the very conducive environment.
Production ranges between 1,000kg per acre each year for subsistence farmers to 10,000kg per hectare each year for emerging commercial cage fish farmers.
With improved market prices for fish, government intervention for increased production and stagnating supply from capture fisheries, aquaculture has begun to attract entrepreneurial farmers seeking to exploit the business opportunity provided by the demand for fish.
This recent expansion in aquaculture has also resulted in the transformation of 20% to 30% of the smallholder subsistence ponds into profitable small-scale production units, through developments in management, as well as scale of production.
According to the FAO National Aquaculture Review of 2020, it is estimated that there are 2,000 such farmers who own nearly 5,000 ponds, with an average pond size of 1 500m² per pond.
However, many of these farmers abandon the ponds due to various reasons as Ssemyalo stated. For successful fish farming, experts, including Vincent Ssebutemba, a fish farming trainer at the Harvest Money Expo, Ivan Ssabwe from Koudjis Nutrition BV and Richard Ddungu from the National Agricultural Research Organisation, answered several queries that can help fish farmers sustain their enterprises.
Can I dig a fish pond anywhere?
A pond is a depression in the ground where water can be retained. Pond sizes differ from farmer-to-farmer. However, what should not change are the factors of location and depth.
Most farmers think that every site with water is suitable for pond construction, but this is wrong. The water should be enough and able to flow by gravity; it should have a permanent source.
The type of soils should have some form of clay because clay holds water better than any other form of soil.
The topography should offer the gravitation flow of water into and outside the pond because fish uses a lot of water.
If the water is stagnant, the production system will be affected. The pond should have a depth of 1metre towards the inlet and 1.2 metres towards the outlet.
How do I set up a pond?
There are two ways of digging a pond. Farmers with the means hire tractors to excavate the ponds.
The average cost of using a tractor to construct a 20x40metre pond is sh10m. But this is a large pond. A farmer can construct smaller ponds of say 10x20metres.
Can I construct the pond in any shape?
The pond must be rectangular because this makes it easy to maintain, especially when guarding it against silting.
It is also easier to harvest fish from a rectangular pond than from one with any other shape because you can easily sweep through all the corners. If several ponds are constructed, they should be parallel to each other to ease management.
Make sure that each pond has got an inlet and outlet on opposite sides. This is necessary for draining the pond during harvests and refilling them with fresh water.
The pond should have a depth of 1metre at the water inlet and 1.2metre at the outlet for the fish to survive.
How many fish can I stock in a pond?
Most farmers do not know the right density or the number of fish to be stocked in a pond. Many think that they can get a lot of fish by stocking heavily, not knowing that each pond has a maximum capacity and, once it is overstocked, the growth of the fish will be stunted, leading to low prices. Look out for the best variety because this is what determines growth. Farmers are advised to stock within 10 days of filling the pond with water. Fingerlings weigh seven to 10g, 2kg per square metre for catfish is recommended, while 1kg is recommended for tilapia.
This means that if tilapia weighs 10g, you can stock as many as 100 fingerlings in a square metre. On the other hand, if cat fish fingerlings weigh 10g and you need 2kg, you stock 200 fingerlings per square metre.
Source of fingerlings
Both the fisheries research centre at Kajjansi and Jinja provide fingerlings. However, there are also fish farmers who breed and sell fingerlings. It is, however, important to involve the area fisheries expert in the purchase of fingerlings.
Cage fish farming
Can I engage in cage fish farming on lakes?
Cage fish farming is an old system worldwide. In the far-east, the system has been used for tens of years. In Africa, it was first piloted in West Africa and then on Lake Kariba in Zambia in the 1980s.
In Uganda, there are farmers practising it on Lake Victoria, especially in Jinja, Mayuge, Namayingo and Busia districts. Fish cages are placed in lakes, ponds, rivers or oceans to contain and protect fish until they can be harvested.
The method is also called “off-shore cultivation” when the cages are placed in the lake. Fish are stocked in cages, artificially fed and harvested when they reach market size.
The cages vary in size. Each of the boxes is about 3x3metres in size. The boxes are interlinked by pipes and a wooden bridge that caretakers use to access them during harvesting and feeding. The interlinked structure can be as long as 100metres.
How do I ensure successful cage fish farming?
The success of a cage depends on the availability of water resources and materials for construction. In Uganda, there is no short supply of water bodies.
Other than Lake Victoria, there are smaller lakes across the country, on which the cages can be fixed.
Before one makes a selection of a spot for the cages, serious studies must be undertaken to, among others, determine the depth of the lake at that particular area, the appearance of heavy winds that may cause waves in the area, etc.
In terms of materials, the cage requires a metallic mesh that is constructed into a box and placed in a section of the lake. The structure should be fixed with floaters so that it does not sink.
Some farmers use plastic drums. The cage is then covered by another mesh that is, however, opened during feeding and harvesting. The other advantage the cage method has over traditional pond fish farming is that there is no need for water quality control since this water is recycled within the lake.
But before setting up the cages, you need the authority of the area fisheries office and an environment impact assessment report.
Do I need to feed fish that is in cages?
Yes, and fish in cages are very easy to feed. They feed on common feeds such as pellets. These are dropped on the water over the cages and fish comes up to scoop it.
The advantage is that the feeding is well-controlled, so there is no wastage. Because of the easy and targeted feeding, the fish grow faster. With this method, farmers’ production is predictable, which is not the case when it comes to fishing in the wild.
Biggest external threat to fish in ponds
The biggest threat comes from predators, especially reptiles such as snakes and large lizards, for example, alligators, plus fishing birds.
You can keep off the reptiles by planting repellent plants, such as tobacco and lemon grass around the ponds. Dogs and cats can also reduce incidences of reptiles coming to your ponds. You should also keep the grass around your ponds short. To keep birds away, set a wire gauze over the ponds so that they cannot swoop low into the ponds.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Workers at Nkunyu Kyengeza Mixed farm catching fish from a pond. It is better for farmers to make their fish ponds rectangular as this makes them easy to manage.
