Part I: Aquaculture Development and Research Needs in sub-Saharan Africa

1. AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

1.1 General Background

1.1.1 History of the aquaculture development

Although the history of aquaculture is relatively recent in sub-Saharan Africa compared to Asia, it is not new to the majority of the countries. In fact, most known aquaculture systems have been introduced over the last 35 years.

The cold water culture of trout, limited to high altitude areas, has been introduced into Kenya and Madagascar in the late 20's. The first successful pond productions of tilapias in Southern Zaire date from 1946. During the next 15 years, classical fish farming technology was introduced from Europe into various African countries and development spread rapidly. By the late 50's, about 300 000 fish ponds were productive (Satia, 1989).

During the 60's, aquaculture development not only stopped but regressed sharply. Most ponds were abandoned because of poor returns, lack of stocking material, drought and political unrest.

It is since the late 60's that aquaculture has started to develop again, on more solid bases following the increased technical assistance financed by multilateral and bilateral donors. More than US$500 million have been provided to the region over the past 20 years to support aquaculture development. Later sections will analyze the way in which this assistance was provided and its results.

Recently, under pressure from the World Bank, several African countries have agreed to change their general development policy. Diversification of production, privatization of investments and restructuring of government support should also affect aquaculture development in the future, as will be seen in the analysis below.

1.1.2 Actual characteristics of the aquaculture sector

The main characteristics of the African aquaculture sector are illustrated in Table 2, on the basis of the information derived from a sample of 12 countries.

Aquaculture south of the Sahara is still little developed. In 1990, according to official FAO statistics, the total aquaculture production amounted to 14700 tonnes, equivalent to about 0.5 percent of the world production. The estimated value of this production reached US$25 million (Table 4). The most important producers in 1990 were Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia and Kenya (more than 1000 t/y), followed by Zaire, Ghana, Tanzania, Congo, Madagascar and Sudan (200–700 t/y).

Aquaculture is mostly practised in freshwater environments, although in coastal countries there is an upward trend in the use of brackish and marine waters, particularly in Nigeria and Kenya.

The species cultured in the region include a variety of over 30 indigenous and exotic species. The tilapias continue to be the focus for aquaculture development, in particular Oreochromis niloticus. Clarias gariepinus and Cyprinus carpio are also favoured species (Table 3).

Stocking material is still mostly obtained from public seed production centres. For tilapias however, the trend is for private farmers to produce increasingly more fry for their own use and for sale to their neighbours. A similar evolution has recently started in Madagascar for common carp. Under special circumstances, wild juveniles (e.g. African catfish) become seasonally available at low cost.

Three production systems based on the level of inputs are practised in the region:

1. The oldest extensive system is the most widespread, aquaculture activities being still predominantly rural and oriented toward meeting the nutritional needs. The increased interest recently shown in the enhancement of culture-based fisheries in small water bodies should give even more importance to this production system.

2. The semi-intensive system is preferred by small and large-scale commercial farmers who are increasingly contributing to the development of aquaculture in a number of countries, particularly close to urban markets. As part of this system, integrated aquaculture (with animal husbandry in particular) has to date had a minor impact only, even if great hopes have been repeatedly expressed about its potential.

3. The intensive system is still rarely used successfully. A few farms are still at the experimental or pilot stage of industrial development. Most of them either are in financial difficulties or have ceased to exist.

Small earthen ponds averaging 100–400 m² each are the basic production units in the region. Individual fish farms average 400 to 1000 m² at the most, their size increasing as one shifts from subsistence to small-scale commercial level. A few private larger-scale commercial fish farms ranging in size from 2 to 30 ha exist, mostly in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Similarly, average annual yield varies from up to 10 kg/100 m² (subsistence) to 30 kg/100 m² (small-scale commercial). Most of this production is either consumed directly by the farmer and his extended family or bartered/sold (cash crop) within the local community.

Other types of production units are also used on a limited scale such as raceways/tanks and net pens/cages. Irrigated rice fields are commonly used in Madagascar to produce paddy and fish simultaneously.

In Africa, aquaculture is generally a secondary part time activity taken up by male farmers, although pond management is often done by their spouses. In the past, extension services have tended to predominately target men on the assumption that they also carry out pond management.

Collective exploitation exists in a few countries only, for example in Rwanda, where fish ponds are usually managed by several families due to the scarcity of suitable land. In most countries, fish farming is an individual activity for small farmers. Larger-scale farms belong to individuals or companies.

The use of organic fertilization to increase natural food availability is widespread, at least in theory. But it is still common to observe rural ponds without any compost heap in most countries, even in the presence of extension efforts. Mineral fertilizers are rarely used, being limited to large-scale farmers in countries where cost and availability are favourable.

Availability of ingredients for supplementary fish feeds is generally limited, because of scarce agricultural production or because of strong competition with other livestock production. Of the 12 countries reviewed, only four of them have medium/good supplies available to fish farmers. In such cases, supplementary feeding is practised by progressive commercial farmers.

Until recently, aquaculture development in most of the African countries has primarily had social objectives such as nutrition improvement in rural areas, generation of supplementary income, diversification of activities and incomes, and creation of employment especially in rural communities where opportunities for economic activities are limited.

Only in recent years has aquaculture also been viewed (on a relatively small scale) as an activity likely to meet national shortfalls in fish supply to reduce fish imports, as well as a direct source of foreign exchange mainly through the production of high value marine finfish, crustaceans and molluscs.

1.1.3 Physical Resources

The 47 countries of sub-Saharan Africa comprise 33 maritime and 14 landlocked states classified in geographic and climatic terms into five agro-ecological regions (Figure 2) (FAO, 1986). The main characteristics of these regions are given below, with abbreviated names as used in the text of this report printed in italics; more specific information can be found in Table 5.

• Semi-arid Sudano-Sahelian Africa: 68% is either desert or arid, but moister areas offer potential for extensive grazing and rain-fed crops. Meeting zone of nomadic pastoralists and cultivators. Main crops millet and sorghum, with short-cycle cowpea, phaseolus beans and groundnuts.

• Humid and Sub-humid West Africa: 82% is sub-humid or humid, and is suitable for the production of a wide range of crops. Main crops millet, sorghum, maize and groundnuts; also cassava, cowpeas, cotton, sweet potatoes, tobacco, rainfed rice, soya, mango and cashew nuts.

• Humid Central Africa: 98% is sub-humid or humid, suitable for a limited number of annual and a wide range of perennial crops: roots (yams, cassava, etc.), sorghum, maize, bananas, pineapples, sugar cane and rice. Some tree crops: oil palm, rubber and cocoa.

• Sub-humid and Mountainous East Africa: Wide variations exist, ranging from desert to humid areas, with a corresponding wide range of potential uses. Main crops millet, sorghum, maize and groundnuts; also cassava, cowpeas, cotton, sweet potatoes, tobacco, rainfed rice, soya, mango and cashew nuts.

• Sub-humid and Semi-arid Southern Africa: 37% is desert, arid or semi-arid, but most of the rest is suitable for annual or perennial crops, with grazing potential in semi-arid areas. Main crops maize, millet and sorghum, with short-cycle cowpeas, phaseolus beans and groundnuts.

Rainfall and water resources are most abundant in Central and West Africa, although there is significant storage of water in the lakes and reservoirs of East and Southern Africa. Sudano-Sahelian, East and Southern Africa have suffered persistent drought over the past decade which has reduced surface and ground water resources, degraded soils, and caused reduced crop production.

Higher mean air temperatures are found in the Sudano-Sahelian, West, Central and East Africa, with lower mean air temperatures and larger seasonal temperature fluctuations occurring further south and in the highlands areas of East Africa.

Most West and Central African countries have coastal zones, although they are relatively small compared with the longer zones in the proportionally fewer maritime states of East and Southern Africa. The Atlantic fisheries are generally more productive than the Indian Ocean fisheries. There is virtually no mariculture and its potential has not been assessed.

1.1.4 Human Resources

In general, Africa is facing a human crisis, with relatively high population growth rates, high infant mortality rates, low age structure, and low life expectancy. The population is unevenly distributed, with 59% of the population occupying 27% of the continent's land mass in just West and East Africa, primarily in Nigeria (Tables 4 and 5). Countries in Central and Southern Africa tend to be much less densely populated with the exceptions of the small landlocked countries of Rwanda and Burundi. Urbanization is increasing throughout the continent but is still relatively low, in the 20–40% range (World Bank, 1992b).

Adult literacy increases to the East and South. Official languages vary among Arabic (2), English (22), French (23), Portuguese (5) and Spanish (1), with several widely spoken lingua franca and hundreds of local languages (Table 4).

The per capita availability of fish is greatest in West and Central Africa, primarily from marine fisheries. Over half the countries reporting, with 73% of the sub-Saharan population, have less than 10 kg/caput/year. Of these countries, 14 have less than 5 kg/caput/yr of fish available. Fish consumption is skewed toward the coastal and lake areas (Table 4).

What is clear is that there is a need to increase fish production in most parts of Africa. To help policy-makers and planners match this need with the diverse African environment, FAO is carrying out a strategic assessment of the potential for warm water pond fish farming on the African continent (Kapetsky, 1993). Seven key criteria (temperature, water availability, soil suitability, topographical suitability, local market potential, availability of agricultural byproducts, and infrastructure) are used to evaluate the potential for warmwater aquaculture (tilapia and catfish) in geographic areas using low resolution data. Preliminary results show limited surface areas in 29 of 44 countries. Suitable areas were found in almost all countries of West and Central Africa, while no such areas were found in more than half of the countries in the other regions. While this study gives an interesting first look at the rough potential for basic pond aquaculture, many potential areas may have been excluded due to the low resolution of the data and the simple aquaculture model used.

1.1.5 Economic situation

Over the last two decades many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have suffered from political instability and civil unrest, which are not conducive to economic development. The results have been declining local and foreign investment, capital flight, and loss of skilled manpower.

This instability, together with severe and persistent drought in some regions and high population growth rates, led to poor economic performance. An anaemic 0.6% annual growth in gross national product during the 1970's turned into an annual decline of 0.3% during the 1980's which has accelerated during the early 1990's (Table 6). According to 1990 GNP per capita figures, The World Bank classifies 33 sub-Saharan countries as low-income (less than US$600), 12 as lower middle-income (US$611-2 465), and 2 as upper middle-income (US$2 466 – 7 619) (World Bank, 1992b).

Agriculture has a relatively important share in gross domestic product in most countries, although it is less important for those in Southern Africa (Table 6). Most agriculture is at subsistence level by small-holders, although sugar, tea, coffee and cocoa are important cash crops in both the small-scale and estate sectors.

Aquaculture is essentially an agricultural activity, competing with other crops for the same basic inputs (land, water, labour, nutrients) and forming part of the farm resource cycle. Agriculture's prominence in most African economies is a positive indication of aquaculture's potential for development, since such a large proportion of the population already works the land.

However, increases in agriculture production lag behind population growth. These increases in production have just as much to do with improved yield as with increased area under production. For example, cereal production has increased 73% since 1961–63, of which 47% is attributable to increase in land area under cultivation and 52% to increased average yields. The current cereal yield of 1 t/ha is the lowest in the world (World Bank 1992b). This is due to difficulties in supplying improved seed, fertilizers, and management practices to rural farmers. Aquaculture can lend itself to increasing fish production by either strategy, but the strategy adopted by farmers is likely to match that used for their main crops.

To promote economic development and regional cooperation, African countries have formed eight major economic groupings which generally follow the agro-ecological regions, with some overlapping membership (Table 6 and Figure 3). While these groupings give little specific attention to aquaculture, they strive to create conditions conducive to economic growth, including aquaculture (Annex 1).

During the 1980's, African countries' foreign debt burdens increased relative to reserves and exports due to poor economic performance, to the point where there is now a net capital outflow. New foreign lending dried up due to difficulties in servicing existing debts, and many countries have adopted structural adjustment programmes to revitalize their economies and regain access to foreign capital.

However, structural adjustment programmes have had a severe effect on government services and social welfare. Devaluations to spur exports have increased the cost of imports and, together with inflation, have reduced the buying power of those workers whose incomes do not increase with inflation. To reduce Government spending, subsidies on basic foodstuffs and services have been reduced or eliminated, increasing the cost of living, and the number of civil servants is being reduced.

Aquaculture research and development activities are directly affected by these programmes. It is difficult to motivate or keep qualified staff under conditions of low salary level, lack of operating funds, and no new investment in public institutions. At the producer level, the costs of inputs rise and often cannot be offset by higher producer prices, especially when production is for the local market.

If the structural adjustment programmes are successful in reestablishing dynamic economies, then aquaculture will be important only if it can compete with other productive agriculture activities.

Key

	Sudano-Sahelian region
	West region
	Central region
	East region
	Southern region

Figure 2. Agro-ecological regions

Figure 3. Economic groupings in sub-Saharan Africa

Table 2. Characteristics of the aquaculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa

Table 3. List of major farmed species and proposed new species

Table 4. Geographical data and aquaculture development status

Refs: (1) (3) FAO, 1986
(4) PNUD, 1992
(5) FAO Admin, Rome
(6) Kapetsky, 1993
(7) FAO, 1992
(8) Acc, FAO consultants (from O development to active development = 2)
(9) FAO/FIP, Rome