Figure The coastal area of Kenya showing boundaries of administrative districts.
The development objectives of the KEN/80/018 (Phase II) were to test tidal farming systems for shrimp and fish for local and export markets. This was done through a resources survey of the natural abundance and/or availability of juveniles, introduction of appropriate culture systems and pilot production trials for economic feasibility, staff training, and pre-investment data gathering. The potential for widespread utilisation of inter-tidal coastal lands for earnings, jobs and food was the attractive goal since the marine fisheries production, particularly of trawler caught shrimp is somewhat limited. The socio-economic impact for additional employment for coastal communities together with the production and conservation aspects were most desirable.
However, the design of the project, with labour-intensive use of villagers for pond construction, the unorthodox lay-out and slow development of the entire pond complex, as well as the unforseen technical and administrative difficulties, have provided many implementation constraints. Consequently the Ngomeni “station” has been difficultly established. It has nevertheless contributed many positive technical accomplishments and indicative results.
The next stage must clearly be to maximise these achievements through developing standard culture systems, improving efficiency, training in the desirable practices, and encouraging investment enterprise.
Technical studies have provided data showing that the largest shrimp or prawn species with highest market value (P. mondon) is the least abundant in collections of juveniles in coastal waters. Production yields from the other main species (P. indicus) give only marginal profitability because of its small size and market preference for larger individuals. These yields may be improved for standard small-holder operations (with better pond management/tidal intake of water, etc.) but profitability will have to be clearly demonstrated before it can attract investment enterprise. Localities and seasons of abundance of shrimp fry have been indicated, but require refinement of systems and may lead to employment of small holder/fishermen for their collection, husbandry and sale. However adequate supplies of fry are now a serious constraint.
Available brackishwater fish species (tilapias, mullets and siganids, milkfish) envisaged for polyculture with shrimp, do not attain premium market sizes during the 3-month growing period for shrimp and will require special attention using adapted systems (fish pens or cages). Additionally adequate supplies of juvenile fish will be needed for economic market production.
Accordingly the preliminary economic assessments are speculative and have not yet been based on ideal operational conditions for shrimp or fish production and cannot be the basis for investment calculation.
Culture sites: the survey (April/86) of available tidal coastlands has indicated that only 1450 ha are readily available for extensive shrimp farming while 2500 ha can only be developed profitably through intensive farming systems. The basis for this assessment included suitable criteria of soil types, land elevation level, alternate usage. This accordingly has reduced Kenya's total tidal mangrove swampland of 50,000 ha (previously estimated at 1.3 million ha) to less than 8% as being immediately suitable for shrimp farming given current technology levels. Extensive farming systems refers to those utilizing the coastal stocks of naturally available shrimp fry, which are more than 80% Penaeus indicus of small size and lesser market value than P. monodon. Intensive culture systems refer to dense stocking of the ponds with hatchery-raised juvenile P. monodon, with supplemental feeding.
FULL DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL (PHASE III)
The immediately available areas (total 1450 ha) include 800 ha of salt farm intake reservoirs. Under extensive systems these areas may yield a minimum of 150 kg/ha/yr averaging KShs 50/- per kg, while with higher cost inputs, yields from intensive P. monodon culture from 2500 ha can potentially yield at least 1 t/ha/yr currently marketed at KShs 150/- per kg. To harness these areas identified as most suitable, will require construction of dams, intake sluices and pumps but using simple technology in trapping and harvesting shrimp, possibly combined with herbivorous fish. Areas to be used for intensive culture systems will require advanced technology of hatchery production of P. monodon, mass culture of Artemia and supplementary feeding, apart from water control by frequent pumping as well as dams, intake sluices and other infrastructure works.
The original intention of phase I of the project was to demonstrate that extensive type prawn culture could be widely introduced in the inter-tidal mangrove areas of the Kenya coast, which are presently unproductive as far as direct agricultural yields are concerned, and that rural populations could establish new prawn farming small-holdings hence generating considerable new permanent employment opportunities and a cash income from the sale of relatively high value crop. Nevertheless data collected during phases I and II indicate that only very limited areas of the inter-tidal zone are ideally suitable for prawn culture and that the special construction of small-scale ponds and use of the extensive-type techniques with P. indicus fry collected from the wild, with tidal water exchange and no feeding, were unlikely to be economically feasible. Hence the original concept of a widespread development of small holder based prawn culture activity has had to be considerably revised.
Nevertheless the recent site survey report (Yap & Landoy) suggests two main possible developments: Firstly with minimum new investments the utilization of existing commercial salt farm intake (reservoir) ponds where salinities are lowest (total area 800 ha or some 8% of all areas suitable for prawn farming), to undertake prawn culture using extensive techniques as a supplementary activity which would not interfere with normal salt procedures. Some rural small holders could realize regular employment and income earning opportunities through the additional services required by the salt works enterprises in supplementary stocking of the intake ponds with fry caught from the wild, and in the subsequent harvesting and processing of the catches. In a later phase, stocking of the intake ponds with a rarer but more valuable commercial species P. monodon could be contemplated. However, this would require considerably greater investment in facilities, and in skills to operate an effective hatchery, but would again offer some additional employment opportunities. In subsequent phases saltworks enterprises might consider further investment in constructing specific ponds for prawn and/or brine shrimp (Artemia) culture.
As a second possible development, in those zones identified as suitable for prawn culture outside the existing saltworks concessional areas, small holders might be able to take-up extensive type cultures, but the economic basis of this technique in small ponds has been indicated already by the project as non-viable. However the project still needs to examine its viability in larger area tidal ponds. Indications are however that only more productive (and hence profitable) intensive culture techniques will be economic. The scale of investments required for such relatively intensive techniques will be beyond the reach of the small holders, unless estate concepts are followed whereby a major investor can construct intake canals and a suitable complex of hatchery, ponds, facilities and support services for daily operation and management of individual ponds by small holders. Such a major investor might be from either the private or public sector, but beyond general expressions of interest, pre-feasibility studies will still be required and the Ngomeni project is the only station in Kenya which can, through its continued programme of production trials, provide basic technical and economic data for such studies. Alternative systems have evolved in Indonesia where the government establishes and maintains the main intake canal and control sluices to supply leased plots used by aquaculture farmers. However, such farmers have a long tradition and experience in coastal aquaculture operations which would have to be acquired through training by Kenya's coastal communities.
Given the lack of immediate opportunity for small holder involvement in shrimp aquaculture, until such time as positive feasibility study results are available, it is not appropriate to attempt to develop such skills for small holders or extensionists. Nevertheless skilled technicians trained in various shrimp culture techniques must be developed in order to carry out effective and realistic culture trials at the Ngomeni site, at the hatchery centres, - both at the project base in Malindi and possibly also KMFRI based at Mombasa. Such government and private sector (saltworks) industry technicians, particularly after practical training assignments in prawn culture techniques as have evolved in S.E. Asia, would and should give preliminary advice and support to the first phases of shrimp culture in saltworks intake ponds, but the additional skills development required for subsequent phases of saltworks shrimp culture enterprises, should be supported by these private or parastaal enterprises themselves.
Given the lack of immediate development opportunities for small-scale shrimp aquaculture so far identified, it is premature to examine in detail any potential source of credit for such developments.
Opportunities for medium scale investment in the short and long term for prawn (P. monodon) hatcheries, for Artemia production are discussed below.
The government implementing agency, the Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism is a long established government institution with a multitude of responsibilities and functions; one of which is the development of coastal aquaculture. Project experience has however shown that the long chain of authority leading back from the project site at Ngomeni, through the District Fisheries Offices Malindi, the Assistant Director of Fisheries (Coastal and Marine) Mombasa, to the Director of Fisheries, Nairobi, is not the quickest and most efficient administrative management as far as the government inputs to the project are concerned.
Financial constraints: The prompt allocation of adequate funds for construction/capital and operational/recurrent costs have provided a serious difficulty. Until mid 1986 the revenue derived from sales of prawns was immediately available through a project income account and helped solve urgent farm managment needs by contingency payments. It is understood that the new government forward budgetary allocation system is designed to solve in future such operating difficulties. It is nevertheless felt that there should be established a project account (Government counterpart cash contribution) into which the GOK commitment funds, like the UNDP funds for operations and local procurement, can be administered jointly so as to permit the continous effective conduct of the aquafarm.
In keeping with the importance of this development project the national direction and administrative support for the project should be adequately experienced levels, however there has evidently been no such responsibility assigned previously from which relevant experience may have been derived. The level of administration at the District Fisheries Office has not been assigned responsibilities similar to the operational management of such a project and would not be immediately capable of assuming such functions. This may only logically be undertaken with deliberate planning of training for suitably experienced staff members, and the phasing in of their role after the first year in phase III. The mission therefore recommends that an experienced national officer should be nominated and posted to Ngomeni to take the direct day to day responsibility for national direction of the project. This responsibility must be linked to financial authority for the direct management of all the government's inputs to the project. The national management of the project should be developed in collaboration with staff of the executing agency (FAO); supplemented by specific training assignments both within Kenya and overseas on project business management disciplines, as well as technical aspects of prawn culture, and investment feasibility analysis.
The two most senior government staff presently assigned to the project have been trained at ARAC (Nigeria) and are somewhat experienced in similar technical operations. However the ARAC operations do not relate specifically to shrimp culture and it has been agreed that future shrimp farming training for counterpart staff, KMFRI associates and candidates from parastatal and/or private saltworks enterprises, should take place mainly in Asia (Philippines, Thailand, etc.) where there is considerable experience of the culture systems envisaged for Kenya. Evidently, existing vacancies for graduate level staff are difficult to fill. After they have obtained field experience with the current operational problems such newly recruited staff would be better equipped for training in those aspects particularly relevant for Kenya conditions. There is need for more formal instruction of staff in the principles and practices of coastal aquaculture when the station is complete. As the moment the on-the-job learning of the practical systems still needs much improvement.
Under phase I of the project it had been agreed that the Government would provide all the necessary funds for local costs of construction of the aquafarm site, for production trials and experiments at Ngomeni. Under phase II Government budgetary stringency measures meant that the construction of ponds could be planned for a limited area only of the southern sector of the farm.
The mission now concludes that in order to undertake the necessary continued production trials of P. indicus and P. monodon in small ponds, as well as P. indicus in a large (18 ha) extensive culture trial, the constructon of the perimeter dyke, main gates, main supply and drainage canals, pumphouse and push-pump, and ponds, as well as associated senior and junior staff accomodations and related facilities on site at Ngomeni, must be completed in 1987. This is therefore recommended.
The cost of all these constructions is estimated K£ 132,000 whereas the approved development budget 1986/87 for the fishery project is K£ 118,320 for all fisheries stations, but estimates for subsequent years have not yet been indicated by the Treasury. If the Government cannot cover these essential construction costs in 1986/87 and 1987/88 financial years, then the mission recommends that UNDP and Government explore alternative financing arrangements, including UNDP advance financing and the intervention of other external aid sources.
Regarding the recurrent budget costs, the current staff establishment (presumably all against the recurrent budget) of the Fisheries stations coast province is as follows:
| 3 | Fisheries Officers |
| 2 | Assistant Fisheries Officers |
| 4 | Fisheries Assistants |
| 5 | Ships crew/Fish scouts |
| 2 | Mechanics |
| 3 | Drivers |
| 16 | Subordinate staff/casual labourers |
This complement of staff will be adequate to maintain the operation of the complex after additional constructions are complete: no new permanent posts will be necessary.
Whilst new recurrent maintenance costs will be incurred regarding the new housing, wells, electricity generator, water pump, etc., the vehicle maintainance costs should be considerably lower when staff are stationed at Ngomeni and need not commute the 50 km return journey to Malindi virtually every day.
Beyond the completion date of the project, it is assumed that government would maintain the Ngomeni aquafarm complex and associate facilities at Malindi as a centre for continued aquaculture development trials, and for the local training of extension staff and for private shrimp farmers, according to the strategies to be decied before the end of the project. Recurrent staff and operation/maintainance costs would therefore be expected to continue at the same level. On the other hand significant development funds might be required if it is decided that government, rather than private enterprise should report and initiate development of estate-type coastal aquaculture operations for small holders.
A visit to KMFRI provided the mission with an appreciation of its facilities, staff and programme activities which were directly relevant to shrimp farming. These include the library of current periodicals and texts; computer data retrieval; contact with Belgian Universities; water analysis laboratory for environmental monitoring; wet laboratory facilities for juvenile fish and Artemia, preliminary studies being undertaken on the zooplankton and larval species (including shrimp) in coastal waters, as well as shrimp breeding experiments.
Opportunities should be further developed for direct collaboration between staff members and the project in applied research goals e.g. coastal areas of abundance of juvenile and adult prawns; prawn hatchery development using the facilities of DOF Mombasa office; the mass production of Artemia for prawn farming and for export; the organized artemia/prawn culture developments with Fundisha, Kensalt and Karawa salt industries with whom KMFRI currently works; as well as processing and quality control of shrimp.
KMRFI may be particularly interested in and capable of standardizing systems for the identification, collection and survival of juvenile and fingerling fish (mullets, siganids, tilapias, milkfish) for acclimatisation and polyculture in shrimp ponds.
The sea water tanks established at the DOF compound in Mombasa may possibly be rehabilitated, subject to agreement between the two organizations (DOF/KMFRI) over operational arrangements, and if they can be made functional cheaply. Similar collaboration should also be developed with the parastatal saltworks Kensalt and indeed other private salt industries. Kensalt has mechanical engineering and design construction experience for dykes, ponds, large intake sluices, small sluices (kokers), pumps, etc. and also has details through its financial department of construction costs of main dykes (varying from Kshs. 50/- to 100/- per cubic metre).
The possibilities for co-financing of immediate elements of the project are slender: to date the Government and UNDP have shared the burden, and it is unlikely that any new donor would be interested in financing costs of an ongoing applied culture trials programme, particularly where construction costs are a major feature.
However, in the longer term, there is every reason to expect that private investors and public investors will take up development options indicated by the project, and would thus relieve the project itself of a major part of its possible long-term function.
It is felt that the national staff of the project both from DOF, and graduates who have been working in related fields at KMFRI, would need additional specific training in procedures (both pond operations and laboratory analyses) relevant and necessary for Kenya shrimp farming practices before they can effectively and responsibly assume management direction and forward planning of pond operating systems. However the start that has been made in assigning them the management of ponds for extensive shrimp culture will expose them to the range of operating problems. Subsequent institutional training at overseas centres such as SEAFDEC or NACA will then be more useful for equipping them as effective shrimp farming operators within 2 years.
Construction of the station is still incomplete, after seven years of learning-on-the-job and slow manual construction, trial operations of shrimp farming are not yet running under ideal conditions as a prototype model for replication. Despite this the harvest yields have visually impressed potential investors who consider that when operational flaws are overcome economic yields will follow. This should be demonstrably proven and the perimeter dyke, intake canal, main and auxillary pond sluices or gates should be promptly completed by mechanical systems and competent engineering contractors.
Difficulties: because high tidal water flow cannot be fully exploited when available (limited controls exist because of the incomplete sluices), erosion and siltation are continually taking place, ponds cannot be completely filled/drained; juveniles cannot be trapped, adults escape, etc. In short, until the station is complete and operationally secure it will be operating at low efficiency/production levels; the potential full production cannot be obtained or even estimated properly; there will be no standard model for training or extension, and considerable past investment and current effort will be dissipated.
Accomodation: Contingent upon such physical completion and efficient operation are the lack of staff facilities on site. The need is critical at this stage to provide basic facilities and amenities (housing, field worksheds, electricity or security lighting, freshwater for laboratory, toilet, washing, and effective work/office/service buildings). It is lamentable to note that though this project aims to produce a high-value perishable food item, there are no sanitary facilities provided in the field working area of the ponds, no water system for washing the harvest, and only a shallow well and remote pit latrine in the office area. It seems certain that if this aspect were brought to the attention of the authorities it would be remedied to satisfy sanitary, work-service regulations and human dignity of staff relations in this pioneer enterprise.
Working constraints: The resulting constraints are shorter working hours on site; little effective work at night when tidal conditions are best for fry collection or crop harvesting, much time lost in commuting from Malindi (2 hours daily); considerable expense for vehicle maintenance, fuel, etc. over unsurfaced roads, rainy weather constraints, poor staff morale and enthusiasm, despite their keen interest in the pioneer enterprise. Such hardship conditions in this remote, harsh environment, deserve at least the normal or tolerable work conditions and housing, and should merit an incentive allowance to attract and retain capable and diligent staff to develop this important potential resource. It seems frankly unlikely to encourage top level national graduate research to be fully involved in such muddy work when there may be alternate job opportunities with normal working conditions and the same salaries.
The site survey report which assessed suitable areas for possible take-up of shrimp farming found that the most immediately available areas (already enclosed by dams and retaining tidal sea water) were the storage reservoirs of salt farms. Here the seawater is pumped or taken in at high tides for distribution to the series of evaporation ponds. The total area of such reservoir space is 800 ha. of which the parstatal company Kensalt has 226 ha. and others from 30 to 102 ha. Juvenile fish and shrimp are normally sucked in through the pumping system so that there is already an incidental population stock which grows up in the storage ponds. When this water is passed into the salt evaporation ponds the shrimp and fish may be swept into such ponds (and be lost). However these could very easily be trapped and retained by screened or fenced enclosures in such reservoirs.
Figure Generalized layout of a saltwork in Kenya.
Opportunity: By deliberate efforts, timed with fry abundance peaks and simple fish-pen systems, these storage reservoir areas can be profitably operated as culture systems. This is already practised in Asian countries. Yields may be further increased by deliberate stocking with juveniles. From current experience such areas may yield minimally about 100 kg/ha/year. Accordingly the industrial operators may be encouraged by the value of such crops (several tons per reservoir) to move promptly into intensive shrimp culture and hatchery operations. Additionally during the rainy season, ponds which normally have unsuitable high salinities can also provide the opportunity for shrimp culture if juveniles are available for stocking.
Hatchery Potential: Increased numbers of shrimp can be provided if current hatchery experiments can develop a simple standard operational system. Thus, if only even 5,000 juveniles P. monodon per female spawning can be obtained, this will be an encouraging positive start for hatchery production. However millions will be required for stocking the available areas and careful highly skilled technicians will be needed (to operate such hatcheries when established) in order to provide the quantities needed even for stocking of available areas. This is an interesting investment possibility in view of world shrimp market prospects.
Artemia (Brine shrimp): Associated with hatchery production, higher survival, greater yields as well as production of P. monodon, is the recently established experiment in the widespread production of the brine shrimp, Artemia sp. This small crustacean is a recognized live food for early juvenile stages of shrimp and fish in its larval form, while being consumed by grow-out stages of cultivated fish and shrimp.
The work on Artemia has been done through KMFRI with Belgian assistance and the Project has been marginally associated with it. However the project has profitably used the presence of Artemia in the salt evaporation station ponds and has innoculated a small production pond at the Ngomeni station. The needs of Artemia for project activities are relatively samll. With deliberate technical management input, the supply of Artemia adults, cysts and young can be mass-produced for local shrimp food requirements, and perhaps eventually for export. This offers a separate, and perhaps very attrative, opportunity for salt production estates, particularly if they become involved in hatchery production of P. monodon and commercial production of alternate crops to salt (viz. prawns and brine shrimp).
Further development prospects for private shrimp hatcheries to stock private ponds may be most speedily promoted by salt industries and KMFRI, quite independently of the project hatchery activities, which should also continue. Mass production of Artemia will nevertheless be a very significant spin-off benefit offering increased productivity of shrimp, increased employment, food and earning opportunities.
Profitable diversification: The establishment of shrimp hatcheries and the production of brine shrimp from their evaporation ponds will provide another significant but profitable step towards integrated but diversified production. The economic benefits of this need to be fully assessed based on permanent or periodically available pond space; dry weather conditions for brine shrimp; rainy weather/low salinity conditions for prawns, cost of hatchery, cost of modifications necessary for efficient harvesting/trapping systems.
Joint investment prospects: Initially, perhas a consortium of salt manufacturers may financially contribute and establish shrimp hatcheries, though government may be disposed to establish the first one through the available facilities at KMFRI and DOF installations. However it would seem to be worth investigating as a fruitful opportunity for joint investment and commercial operation of shrimp hatcheries at the suitable sites identified. These can then supply the millions of prawn juveniles needed. The possibility of SIFIDA investment, joint-venture with salt companies, hiring a skilled hatchery manager and using the industrial training levy to equip nationals for such commercial activities, should be an attractive prospect for immediate consideration.
After reviewing field operations, staff responsibilities, administrative services, etc., and assessing the constraints and prospects, the mission considers that the project's next phase should concentrate on demonstrating the economic feasibility of suitable Kenyan shrimp farming systems in the most direct manner possible. It therefore suggests that the following activities be the priorities of the next phase:
(a) Ngomeni Station Completion:
Construction Priorities: The surrounding main dams, main intake gates, pond sluices, canals, etc. should be mechanically constructed and completed, as promptly as possible by contract, according to engineering design specifications to be drawn up by the fish-farm manager and aquaculture engineer. The work should be so organized as to take advantage of tidal conditions to operate as many ponds as possible during construction and permit full functioning of the station by the end of year 1. To facilitate these pond operations all housing accommodation (for seniors and juniors) with electricity, domestic well-water supply, office/laboratory, etc. should be established somewhat in advance, to permit the technical staff and experts to be on site. Buildings should be functional but permanent (and not elaborate or costly) so as to provide normal conveniences at minimal cost, preferably by contract construction. The logical priority sequences of pusher pump, sluices, canals, peripheral dyke, extensive-pond clearance, etc. indicated by the fish-farm manager are endorsed. However, it is recommended that, rather than staggering them in three steps, the total construction be immediately undertaken and completed within 9 months to one year. Dyke construction and finishing should include establishing mangrove seedlings along the main dams, to control erosion during tidal flow, as well as the use of gabion protection of the stream intake approaches to the main sluice gate and outflow.
Careful accounting of fixed and variable costs of main dams, canals, sluices, etc. should be made for prototype operations, maintenance and, eventually, value of harvested shrimp. A number of technical data must also be gathered in relation to tidal and pumped filling of ponds, siltation, etc.
Standard Asian Systems should be tried and adopted for local use after trainees have returned from Asian courses. These include fry collection and transport, fish pen-enclosures for extensive reservoir ponds, harvesting systems with bright lights, traps, etc.
Improved harvesting, washing, handling and perservation for market delivery at farm gate must be established to ensure prime quality control and efficient sanitary food handling standards. The purchase and market arrangements must conform to defined standards and practices in establishing high market quality for cultured shrimp. Unless these standards are assured by the purchaser, the proper market value of the shrimp produced will be lost.
Second priority is given to the construction and operation of a full prawn hatchery. The system has been demonstrated as technically feasible in the preliminary contrived installation at Malindi. Since these systems are now standard in Asia and Latin America (for tropical design and for water quality, live food and other critical factors), it is suggested that salt industry proprietors and GOK through DOF and KMFRI should carry out a feasibility study to establish a first commercial scale shrimp hatchery for P. monodon so as to supply stocks for their intake reservoirs. If, through semi-intensive stocking and Artemia feeding, yields of even 1 ton/ha can be obtained this will provide earnings from more than 800 tons of shrimp, which should be profitably attractive. Much higher potential yields can be obtained by use of their other ponds for intensive shrimp culture when adequate numbers of shrimp juveniles are available. The establishment of such shrimp hatchery operations can be undertaken through consortium enterprise by salt industries as a joint-venture which can supply juveniles to all suitable areas. This, would further promote intensive shrimp farming in salt evaporation complexes and suitable tidal lands.
(b) Personnel Training in Shrimp Farming Systems:
Overseas training (at SEAFDEC Philippines, Thailand, etc.) should be organized at the start of the next phase, for technical supervisors, biologists, engineers and field technicans. Courses offered by SEAFDEC are relatively low-cost with an emphasis on practical systems. Training should also be facilitated for private investors from the salt industry particularly in shrimp hatchery operation, pond engineering and equipment/installation designs used in varied operating conditions in the Philippines, Thailand, etc.
The construction of the station could proceed while this training starts. When these trained supervisors return, they should initially assist the expatriate consultants (and later conduct themselves) a series of instructional workshops for junior staff and salt pond operators. These training sessions should be regularly programmed so that experience is exchanged and effective systems are implanted when modified to suit local conditions.
National Expertise is available at various Kenya institutions such as the Economics Department of the University of Nairobi, the Kenya Institute of Management, and the Kenya Institute of Administration. While they may need further orientation guidelines for the specific systems of the project, they should be able to provide training in field operational management, economic evaluation of cost/benefits, monitoring of inputs/outputs, data gathering for investment assessments, etc. They may also be able to conduct market studies and other socio-economic studies related to coastal zone operations, opportunity costs of diversification in salt industries, and of alternative land use benefits. The land use in coastal zones seems to be an important conservation policy.
Figure Sites found ideal for shrimp hatchery development and extent of coastline from Kilifi to Malind where other potential sites may be found.
The role which the Naivasha Wildlife and Fisheries Training Institute can provide in national staff training during the next few years will be restricted to general instruction for junior staff assigned to the project. Specialized training in coastal aquaculture is only available through FAO staff at the project or through overseas institutions.
(c) Administrative Coordination
For rapid promotion of development action there needs to be effective and continuing collaboration of institutional inputs. Available resources (both human and financial) are limited thus duplication and parallel activities are best avoided. Project operations and national direction may be usefully aided by an advisory or coordinating committee. As an advisory body it should meet quarterly to consider progress, resolve operational difficulties and facilitate forward plans in field activities, training, extension, etc.
To initiate such coordination it is suggested that a first inter-departmental technical seminar workshop be planned for the first half of 1987 with participation by all senior project staff, representatives of all interested agencies (DOF, KMRI, Ministries, Universities, Finance Corporation and Private Sector Industries) and invited consultants. This could give rise to a standing advisory committee for coastal aquaculture development.
Operations must function continuously in the field or experimental culture systems will be ruined and pre-investment data gathering made worthless. A joint-project operation account should be established with GOK and UNDP contribution to avoid any halt to activities. A suitably experienced accountant should be assigned this field management responsibility. Training in project management, data collection analysis, forward planning, etc. must be given locally, and overseas through FAO, by the national director and senior staff. Local operating constraints may be discussed through seminar discussions arranged with other UNDP/FAO senior technical advisers so that administrative problem-solving, budgetary procedures and approved contingency arrangements can be fully understood.
The University of Kenya and other appropriate institutions should be involved for consultancy studies (economic analysis, investment evaluation of cost/benefits, local market surveys, etc.) which can strengthen local expertise capabilities and increase the local knowledge and impact of the project. Publication of results of the initial shrimp farming activities by project staff in local technical journals, such as “Kenya Aquatica” produced by KMFRI, should help focus on the development objective and encourage interchange of ideas while promoting investment interest.
(d) Salt Industry Involvement for integrated shrimp development:
For “fast-track” development of industrial shrimp farming it is recommended that the salt industry be invited and encouraged to establish extensive shrimp farming in their intake reservoir ponds, as well as a shrimp hatchery in association with GOK. The economic development of prime sites for both smallholder shrimp farming and larger industrial investors will largely depend on continued supplies of juvenile shrimps in massive quantities which can only be adequately provided by the efficient operation of hatcheries and bulk Artemia production.
(e) Small holder estates:
In order to encourage small holder enterprise in efficient shrimp farming some suitable areas should be reserved adjacent to salt operations or the new sites identified in the Yap and Landoy report. The main intake canal and sluice gate should be established and the operational land sites may be leased for trained small-holders in 5 to 10 ha. plots. The sizes may be best determined according to data of initial production feasibility experiments to indicate what earnings semi-intensive yields may provide for varied sizes of ponds. A portion of these sites may be available for cooperatives of joint-venture mixed enterprise, so as to permit efficient operation and take up lower-income resident coastal families and fishermen. The terms of operational lease may be renewable subject to approved practices while the applicants should undergo prior training and may receive credit assistance to start their enterprise.
These developments could logically be undertaken after year 3, when hatchery operations and joint-venture activities have built up investment confidence.
The computerized data-base of the project has provided the following facts on fish pond statistics:
Total number: 5193, Total area: 65.58 ha, Average size: 126 m2
Ownership: 89% male; 11% female; 3615 farmers; 49% individual; 38% family; 3% women's groups; 5% other groups; 1% schools; 2% government.
Status: 62% unknown or abandoned; 21% rehabilitated; 17% newponds
Sizes: 60% less than 100 m2; 40% greater than 100 m2
Fry Stocking sources: Kibos 23%; Department of Fisheries 5%; Farmers' ponds 67%
1986 Harvestings: Average 43.48 ha total yield 3.746 tons
Average yields: 83% less than 20 kg/are/yr (poor to fair)
7% less than 30 kg/are/yr (fair)
10% more than 30 kg/are/yr (average to good)
From the above data, which has been excellently complied by the project staff and which must, be continually updated, it is possible to assess the operating status, performance and trends in the programme. It indicates the considerable private effort that has gone into the construction of ponds and reflects the disappointment at results in the abandonment of perhaps 62% of those constructed before 1984. It also must be stated that the 52 field extensionists are spread over a vast area, each responsible for advisory services to an average of 100 ponds. Previous missions have remarked on the rather ambitious aims and the severe communication/operational difficulties involved.
The past year's activities of collaborative contributions and a more routine experience have indicated that there are still severe operational constraints. This would suggest that a realistic approach for the development objectives would be to stimulate production by progressively larger ponds.
The initial target of KEN/80/006 was to rehabilitate 2000 out of an estimated 3000 existing ponds and to build another 1000 new ponds with a total area of 40 ha. The beneficiaries were estimated at 30000 rural people - although they were not specifically identified. KEN/80/006 in fact identified 5193 existing ponds total area 655 761 m2, belonging to 3615 farmers i.e. heads of families where 11% were female and the remainder male. Phase II (KEN/86/027) aims to rehabilitate another 600 existing ponds per year - plus construct 500 new ponds (10 ha) per year. This would imply direct assistance to some 400 to 600 existing pond-owners plus some 360–500 new owners each year, over say 5 years, although there will probably be a natural bias towards successful pond-owners increasing their number of ponds, rather than many new pond owners atemptting fishculture for the first time.
Each successful pond will provide productive, albeit unpaid part time employment for the owner, his family members and helpers, who will be able to derive cash income from the sale (or barter) of fish harvests which exceed their own requirements. The project itself would thus expand employment and income earning opportunities to some 760 – 1100 heads of families each year over 5 years, and the experienced team of LBDA fish-farming extensionists, presently numbering some 70 and rising over 5 years to some 100 at all grades, could be expected to maintain this rate of increase in fishpond culture over the next decade or so.
The project has correctly aimed first at rehabilitating ponds that were neglected, demonstrating effective production from them and building small model ponds in those areas. In keeping with the aims of promoting self-sufficiency in food production for protein-deficient areas, this is clearly justified. However as soon as subsistence needs are satisfied, the excess quantities of fish are marketed and these would therefore be sold at current market prices. Tilapia breeds readily in such small ponds but individual fishes do not reach large sizes. If the small ponds are seined and harvested totally, some fish will have to be sold since the quantity should be more than the family's immediate consumption capacity and it cannot be readily preserved. Life-net systems for continuous harvesting for weekly family needs may therefore be more practical for continual subsistence supplies after the first 6 months.
Currently tilapia is sold in markets at between KShs 15/- and KShs 30/- per kg depending on size. Fresh fish command higher prices but those displayed in markets weigh generally 500 g to 1 kg each. Those from farm ponds may reach 150 g. Fry and fingerlings are sold at KShs 50/- to 100/- per kg by private farmers while government stations provide them at KShs 15/- per kg. For ponds of 150 m2 yields of even 1.5 ton/ha/yr only give 22.5 kg per year divided over 2 or 3 harvests. Thus there may be a total value of no more than KShs 337/- but after family consumption the surplus fish sold may only be worth about KShs 150/-. This is not an attrative prospect for a farmer. Recommendations have been made by the review mission in this regard. Individual ponds will have to be larger to produce an impressive quantity. Fish will have to be larger-sized or the quantities of fry produced will have to provide attractive earnings. Some farmers have recognized this and are holding their fish to serve as stock for larger ponds to be built by them. Even though it is stated that 150 sq metres of pond space earns more from fish than from sugar cane or maize, the required inputs in construction, care and protection of fishponds do not seem to compensate for the difference. A better prospect must later be available.
Since larger ponds of 500 m2 are clearly indicated, some of those available at Kibos must also be monitored and operated so as to demonstrate their actual earnings from sales of marketable fish and fingerlings for stocking. (In short they should not be disturbed by partial removal of stock, etc. but should be manured, fed, etc. as a farmer should, and the actual yields assessed). When these figures of actual production are available then the real value of the fish crops harvested from such ponds can be given. At present the yields derive from projections on the basis of weight per ha per year and the values calculated give the delusion of a magnified quantity of fish.
If a private pond is to yield KShs 1000/- per year it must produce at least 70 kg of table fish or may exceed this value by producing 40 kg of fingerlings. Such yields may be obtained from ponds of 400 to 500 m2 if well managed but yields should rise from the level of 1.5 t/ha/yr to 3 t/ha/yr where natural fish-food production is increased by compost and farmyard manures. Accordingly integrated fish-farming systems with ducks, chickens, pigs have been shown in Zambia to produce yields of 5 to 9 tons per ha/yr, but this has to be done in larger ponds (minimum size 500 to 1000 m2). This is the emergent small commercial fishfarmer operation that must be the goal in the Lake Basin area for attracting employment and earnings through private investment and credit.
The technology packages recommended are therefore:
Subsistence fish ponds: approx 150 m2 giving 20–30 kg/yr worth KShs 300/- to 400/-, providing family food and small sales, from cash inputs of KShs 100/- plus labour.
Subsistence/production ponds: complexes of a least 500 m2 giving yields of 70 kg/year table fish worth in KShs 1000/- to 2500/- plus fingerling sales, consumption of group members plus some sales. Required cash inputs of about KShs 1200/- for pipes, monks and much labour. Yields should be much improved with livestock integration.
Emergent commercial ponds: Ponds of size 1000 m2 with poultry or pig houses, ample year-round water supplies, yielding 300 kg to 600 kg/yr in table fish and regular fingerling sales. Considerable cash inputs required for pipes, monks, livestock pens, construction and livestock as well as for recurrent costs of feeds, livestock replacement and labour.
The strategy for Phase I has concentrated on (A) trying to rehabilitate and prove the feasibility of small fish ponds to produce family supplies. Phase II may best consolidate (A) and rapidly promote (B) while advancing to (C). As seen from the project's harvest yields summary; 83% of ponds are in the category (A) which do not show attractive yields/earnings while 17% give promise of better yields which may encourage management inputs towards (B). Revolving fund credit may be the most important factor to move through (B) and (C).
The strategic development of commercial fish farming should therefore perhaps concentrate efforts on packages A (10%) B (60%) C (30%). The staff should be geared to these goals and fry supplies, with travel and support activities organized for such area targets.
It is essential that options (B) and (C) be demonstrated and quantified to indicate input/output costs for realistic credit systems.
These options will vary with the local area market-demand for food fish and fry for ponds, as well as the climatic conditions (temperature water catchments, etc.) which would affect spawning and pond operations. The organization of fry sales and simpler fingerling production systems (using floating cages in dams, nursery happas, etc.) may prove very profitable options.
The realistic pricing of private sales of fingerlings particularly in areas of remote access should be addressed. The cost of LBDA production and transport of such fry may be best offset by offering incentive credit for encouraging competent individuals to establish several private fry centers. A realistic pre-determined price level should be agreed for their future fry production to other farmers and targets of fry quantities and table fish production should be set.
The project has trained 54 extensionists and given refresher courses to 50 more fish assistants from the Department of Fisheries as well as 6 short courses to pond owners with 129 participants. There is evident improvement in the rehabilitated and newly constructed ponds but, because the pond design and operations were not ideal and even the station models not completely perfect, the fish yields are still rather low. Much remains to be done. Skills of the extensionists have to be further improved from the basics to the level of versatile capability to deal with many different types of sites and operating systems. They must be further trained and have practical exposure to such systems so that they can apply them locally and upgrade the farmers' operating skills.
Accordingly a few receptive and capable small farmers should also be exposed to overseas training, along with the leading extensionsionists, so that they can improve their fishpond systems more rapidly to the emergent commercial scale. An evident recurrent constraint expressed everywhere is the need for small credit to permit a move to the higher production level. Thus the revolving-fund credit proposed should further assist the quicker development of skills.
The transfer of technology will be a continuous long-term process, particularly at the level of the small holders, hence it is essential to maintain an ongoing and effective extension service in order to maintain the teaching of skills beyond the conclusion of the project itself.
Project staff have investigated the available services and found that there are a number of opportunities established for grants and loans to farmers which could be probably applicable for small fish-farming applicants as grants or loans to groups.
Grants for self-help group/community projects;
US Embassy self-help fund - 75% of cost, 1 year, KShs 30,000/- maximum;
World Education Inc. - small and medium-size agro-projects;
USAID/VADA - small-scale projects;
Loan schemes for small-medium private enterprise projects;
Kencom Finance Co/USAID loan scheme - collateral property required with 6 months grace period, 19% interest over 4 to 8 years;
USAID Rural Enterprise Project - loans through banks for agro-development
None of these schemes has so far received any fish-farm applications and indeed the credit inputs required are relatively small considering the scale of the current operations. Ponds of 200 to 300 m2 require few inputs (pipes, cement, tools, wheel barrows, etc.) that have to be purchased. For ponds 500 m2 or larger the labour inputs however are best organized as a team for quick completion and efficiency. It is estimated that on average such total costs may vary between KShs 8000/- to 13000/-. Credit should be preferably provided to the individuals or groups who have already demonstrated their interest and competence by managing a small pond successfully. Their experience thus qualifies them to be considered for credit support in establishing and operating larger pond complexes for commercial fish production. Criteria are therefore suggested in Appendix 6 to this report. Ponds should not be less than 500 m2 in area, records of input/output costs must be kept and credit should be supplied in kind (equipment, services, etc. against payment of bills).
While the project staff can certify that the applicant is a trained fish-farmer and initially may technically approve the site and draft design of the ponds, the credit agency must act independently of the project staff in assessing, approving and administering the loan. It would be best to attach the initial scheme to similar well-established small farmers' credit schemes.
It is recommended that a fund to be provided by BSF/UNDP augmented by GOK, so as to establish a Revolving Fund for small-scale fish-farming. This should provide the means of quickly providing small amounts to promote fish-farming for emergent commercial operations as well as small first efforts in special or isolated areas.
Strategic Forward-plan: It should aim to promote such ponds in localities of particular high demand and each extensionist should identify at least one potential commercial farmer in year 1, 2 farmers in year 2, 3 in year 3. This would mean approx 50, 100 and 150 new emergent commercial fish-farms respectively, within the next three years. Hopefully the repayment of funds and other supplements will permit the effective expansion of this scheme. As previously suggested, several capable or progressive farmers who have shown promising results at the (B) level should receive study tour exposure and improve their fish farmers to level (C) by such small loans. Special efforts should be made by the project to brief and interest other credit institutions in practical cases of successful small-scale fishculture enterprises which are currently operational in the Lake Basin area, in order to to facilitate further availability of credit where needed. Additionally sugar estates, tea plantations and rice irrigation and integrated rural agricultural development schemes should be enouraged to establish fry production units and table fish production centres using their controlled irrigation waters for commerical integrated fish farming.
Institutional building: There has been evidence of both qualitative and quantitative improvements in station operations of DOF, DDC and LBDA. The training inputs of extension staff have in fact created an extension service of LBDA and improved the field activities of DOF. The pond inventory and the criteria for monitoring standards as well as on-going evaluation of fish farm extension services have provided essential baseline data and can indicate the effects of the rehabilitated and new ponds. A further revival has been made with school ponds, local groups, NGO/religious organizations and one prison farmpond. More attention is needed with farmer training centres and integrated agricultural development schemes.
Impact: The interest created has already put severe pressure on the existing services; demand exceeds DOF/LBDA supplies of fingerlings; costs of infrastructure services (transport, supplies, staff salaries) have expanded beyond allocated budgets while ambitious targets have still not been met. In brief, the impact that has been stimulated and the increased demand for services are beyond the expected project outputs and LBDA's current staff and institutional capability.
However the project had served well to demonstrate a vital function of LBDA to promote and initiate development in the lake basin. It has strengthened that institutional function as being appropriate and useful for LBDA (to be the catalyst and coordinator) without enlarging its staff establishment for continuous implementation of fish-farming programmes. Accordingly the nucleus of trained extension staff should logically be later transferred to the Department of Fisheries which will have strengthened institutional delivery in its national technical responsibility for fisheries development and extension.
This may be phased over the 1989–93 period. Similarly while the initial operations of new fry production centres by LBDA have been in response to a demonstrated need, their continual operation as a permanent additional LBDA budgetary responsibility should not be necessary after 5 years. Through training of private local groups, District Development Centres, Agricultural Training Centres and NGO's, most of such centres may be deliberately taken over and profitably operated to supply fingerlings and table fish. Indeed the three additional new centres suggested for completion in Phase II should preferably be established as several small units run by private entrepreneurs. It is urged that the phase II activities be deliberately targeted towards this goal, with significant contributions from schools, and NGO's oriented towards commercial production, jobs, earnings from fish-farming.
The consultative committee suggested for the project should review every half year progress reports on the fry production/supply situation in the various districts. This will help in coordination and improve impact.
Regarding the immediate future, the current allocation of resources (manpower and finance) does not match the requirements of the small-scale fish-farming development programme. For instance the LBDA recurrent budget from 1986/87 identifies specifically only 3 posts in the fisheries sector:
marine biologist (sic) 1
fisheries specialist 1
aquaculturist 1
whereas the current national staff inputs include the following senior professional (graduate) officers:
Fisheries specialist 1
Senior aquaculturist 1
Assistant aquaculturists/Provincial coordinators (2)
Aquaculturist trainee (1)
and the following supporting staff;
District Field Coordinators (7)
Fish-farming extensionists (54)
Secretary, typists (2)
Drivers (3)
subordinate staff (fry production centres) nil
The forward manpower plan of LBDA should therefore include all these current posts, which it is considered will be required not only during the life of the Phase II project, but also in the longer-term, plus some additional staff inputs in such disciplines as aquaculture engineering, computerised data-base operations, financial management and accounting, fishculture instruction.
It is envisaged that an existing LBDA civil/irrigation engineer could be trained to provide continual part-time services giving professional advice on the construction and maintenance of the larger fish ponds and fry production centres. Similarly in the discipline of computerised data-base operation.
Regarding financial management and accounting aspects the LBDA fisheries section does not have a semi-autonomous capacity; the LBDA annual budget appears to be approved as a whole - thus the precise resources which can be programmed for fisheries and/or fishculture activities in each year are not defined in advance. Moreover with the operation of the fry production centres the careful recording of all data as costs and receipts will be required in order to demonstrate the economic feasibility for private investors. A new post of Administrative Officer (financial management) is therefore necessary, and his specific training will be required during the life of the project.
A few additional fish-farming extensionists will be required, both during the project and thereafter, for replacement and to provide supplementary support in certain districts where fish farming is particularly active. Specifically some female FFE's are required to facilitate work with female farmers, female community groups and some schools. Collaboration has already been established with the DOF through LBDA training of DOF fishculture extension staff assigned in the LBDA geographical area. Perhaps more formal secondment arrangements of DOF extensionists to the LBDA fishculture extension service would avoid the unnecessary recruitment of extra personnel to the overall government permanent staff establishment. However, given Government policy of regional focus of development and specific responsibilities of LBDA within Nyanza and Western Provinces, the implementation of the small-scale fish-farming development plan in this area may remain under the LBDA for the next 5 years with complementary inputs from other national agencies such as DOF, KMFRI, etc. Within the decade the technical responsibility should logically pass to the DOF establishment.
The ultimate objective of manpower development must be to build up specialized fish-farming skills amongst the entire rural small-holder farmer population of the LBDA area, and thereafter amongst similar populations in other suitable areas of Kenya. The target population is thus very large in number and can only be trained individually over a decade or more.
The project therefore must emphasize the training of a nucleus of government fish-farming experts - the basis of the extension service charged with adapting and developing fish-farming techniques suitable for the area; promoting and advising the use of such techniques amongst rural farmers; the monitoring of their results and practices so as to analyse the success or failure of various activities and techniques; and promoting the most suitable systems. Nevertheless the greatest yield of fish will be achieved by the rural farmers - the government extension service is basically there to demonstrate, promote, advise and support, but not to enter into small-scale fish production itself.
The development of manpower skills must therefore cater for both the upgrading of government extension service personnel so that they have the special technical skills required to run an efficient extension service, but also for the upgrading of the skills of selected individual rural farmers. They must be capable of not only producing fish efficiently, but also of convincing their compatriots of the advantages of small-scale fishfarming.
A specific programme of manpower training for government and fish farmers is detailed in the draft project document KEN/86/027 (Appendix 3).
Past experience has shown that government allocations for recurrent and development expenditures were inadequate to meet the fixed and variable costs of extension support services under the project. Even though vehicles, equipment and installations have been now provided through UNDP/BSF funding, the continuing maintenance costs, staff salaries and allowances cannot be met by the LBDA budget. The previous review mission recognized the constraints which have since been further influenced by economic cuts. The forecast is therefore bleak for the effective functioning and funding by LBDA of the full range of planned installations and services.
Even if BSF/UNDP could during phase II meet all the exceptional development costs, at the conclusion of external assistance the estimate of recurrent costs for personnel alone amount to K£ 195,680 per year. Other operational costs are estimated at K£ 52,025 a year if only 4 fry production centres are maintained, and K£ 56,825 if all of centres are operated. Annual revenue from 4 fry centres might attain K£ 9,985 or K£ 15,595 from 7 centres. Consequently the mission recommends that the completed installations of offices and storerooms, livestock pens, at Kibos, Rongo, Borabu and Bungoma be fully accomplished for Phase II, but not the continued establishment funding of the 3 new centres, for which private financing should be deliberately encouraged.
Current activities of the project have involved some training of DOF field staff who have in turn been assigned to the operating DOF stations e.g. at Kisumu and elsewhere. Negotiations for the rehabilitation of the DOF station at Funyola indicated also a smooth collaboration process, as does the use of the Ahero Agricultural Training Centre. Department of Agriculture farmers' training centres and the DDC's also indicate an informal collaborative process. In future perhaps contractual service agreements may be needed in some cases. While these are all “de facto” activities there are indications that fruitful cooperation can also be pursued with KMFRI freshwater fisheries laboratory at Kisumu, the Wildlife and Fisheries Training Institute at Naivasha, the Universities (Nairobi, Moi at Eldoret) and other educational institutions. Furthermore, this is urgently needed in view of the declaration that fishculture must be on the curriculum of all schools.
A consultative committee is therefore recommended as a means of formalizing continued coordinated activities towards the goal of improved national fish-farming development. This can serve as a “think tank” or an “intellectual Harambee” for the project. It would involve participation and encourage specific inputs for solving technical and administrative problems. These include applied research problems (like biological studies on tilapia and compatible species for polyculture) as well as operational problems such as proprietorship of suitable sites for fry centres, integration with district activities in forward plans, etc. Such a committee may start with a membership of LBDA, DOF, KMFRI, Agriculture District's and fishermen's representatives. Observers from UNDP/FAO, BSF and other donor agencies may be invited whilst other persons may be co-opted to help clarify and resolve particular problems. This will help to relieve the burden of initiative and decision from technical project officers, while reinforcing LBDA's coordinating and promotional function.
Further means to ensure continuing collaboration in activities which are directly relevant to achieving the project's aims should be through the assignment of contractual services. These could include the selection of desirable fish species, or studies on culture systems by KMFRI and the universities; particular engineering or irrigation inputs for valley derivation ponds; data collection and studies of socio-economic impact by graduate students, etc. Additionally such institutions could be invited participants in seminars and invitation lectures, workshops and technical discussions with experts and visiting consultants. The project should provide an allocation to cover the overheads and support costs of such consultancy services.
An immediate agenda for such a consultative committee could address the siting of fry production centres, and facilitating fry supply and distribution problems through district arrangements. The committee may address the production costs and pricing of fingerlings. However, the consultative committee should not, under any circumstances, become involved in the executive or technical direction of the project, or in recommendations for loans or credit.
Strategic fisheries development planning will evolve from this exercise in particular relation to the Lake Basin areas. Desirably, this can set a pattern for integrated activities in the fisheries sector as they concern production, marketing and processing systems. Both small-scale and industrial activities interact regarding regulatory measures, product quality, market supplies, extension or public education, and promotion of fishery enterprises. Thus this effective local level of practical coordination for enabling the specific needs of this project can be an integral part of, as well as a precursor to, a coordinated national fisheries development programme for the entire fisheries sector.
Moreover an allocation should be made within the new project budget for the organization of two technical seminars on Tilapia culture and fishfarming within the Lake Basin, in order to stimulate a continued exchange of up-to-date information between these collaborating organizations as well as selected overseas contributors. The second seminar might well focus on the economics of fishculture and should then include representatives from both the private sector and from financial institutions that might consider providing credit to small-scale fishfarmers.
The external inputs needed for phase II of the project can probably be met in full from the Belgian Survival Fund with additional support from UNDP. Additionally BSF has indicated its wish to be the sole donor with GOK of the revolving fund credit for small fish-farming assistance. This would permit private trainees of the project to progress from subsistence ponds and to establish and operate small commercial ponds for greater food-production and job-creation. Though still small-scale, it would be a means to develop competence and local skills for the larger integrated fish-farming proposals formulated by the World Bank, Dutch Assistance, etc. Further, the commercial credit schemes for promoting private fish-farming enterprise of medium-scale operations will perhaps thus find more experienced national entrepreneurial skills are available in this discipline in five years' time.
A realistic approach recognizes the need for more fry production but urges that this be done through assisted private enterprise rather than creating more budgetary demands on government, now and for future continuity. It is also necessary to trim down current field operations to minimum staff requirements for efficient production, with a tight organigram allocation of responsibilities. During the medium-term, government's proprietary role of fry production centres should be phased out, being progressively replaced by increasing private fry production capacity over five years. Brood-stock supplies to such centres should be continued by government.
Coordination, monitoring and promotional roles should be retained through LBDA/DOF/KMFRI in both responding to farmers' needs or problems, and in pre-empting failure. Thus only a reduced staff will be needed for broodstock production at Kibos/Rongo and the demonstration application of integrated fish-farming systems. Staff numbers should be confined to those essential to the departmental establishment (or paid by Agriculture Training Centres DDC's or NGOs) and not on expanding LBDA staff as would be needed if new centres were created. This has particular budget significance for developments beyond the end of the project.
Current project direction has recently developed as a shared responsibility but most of the external inputs had initially been managed by the FAO team leader with the LBDA inputs organized by their fishery specialist. With the establishment of a computerised baseline data arrangement and the completion of basic extensionist training courses, the project's main activities will now concentrate more on delivery and production of fry from newly established centres. This requires much district coordination and arrangements with local authorities and recipient farmers, often in local languages, as well as forward planning and timely fry deliveries according to area demands. Support services for the extensionists, their travel, supplies and requirements have to be well organized and planned to advance. Their initial training and field experience have prepared the national staff for implementation or routine activities. However their activities will be changing and it will also be necessary for the project direction to respond promptly to their emergencies, cater for contingencies, resolve personnel, administrative, technical and unusual problems. This operational capacity of field staff will only come with further experience in dealing with situations as they arise. The consultative committee will be a useful enabling mechanism in this context.
Progressively more responsibility will devolve on national field staff during the first years of phase II as UNV and FAO staff assignments are completed. Additionally, there will be an administrative assistant charged with project budget, executive planning and accounting responsibilities. Increasingly the FAO staff will assume technical advisory roles, as the national specialists take on the lead role in implementation, when they return from further specialized fish-farming “immersion training” in developing countries. Consultants and institutional linkages will be established with other projects and institutions in developing countries (e.g. Zambia for livestock integrated fish-farming, Cote d'Ivoire for reservoir cage-culture systems; Philippines for floating-cage hatcheries of Tilapia, etc.). A continuous upgrading of instructor training in pertinent systems, and of local consultant services (fish breeding, sex-reversal, polyculture systems, fishpond engineering, etc.) will be effected by expertise inputs and special training bursaries so as to perfect methods suitable for efficient local application.
Local institutions for training in management and administration as well as UNDP/FAO management training procedures will be utilized in building up the competence and confidence of national staff. Other Kenya/UNDP/FAO projects which are self-managed and/or nationally directed, will serve as patterns and will be encouraged to exchange advice and experience with the national staff. This will start with the transitional period in years 1 and 2.
Posters, manuals and simple guides should be published during years 1 and 2. These will provide pictured instructions and outline simple bookkeeping input costs and returns for fish-farmers' use. These will also introduce the commercial feasibility concept, particularly for livestock integrated fish farming and assist in credit assessments.
National expert posts will be advertised and suitable candidates may be recruited from either government or the private sector, on contract to the project. Such candidates may be further assigned for overseas training to bolster their competence in specific disciplines or systems (e.g. fishpond engineering, practical fish-breeding systems, etc.). The proposed phase II project document seeks deliberate but gradual transition to complete national management by year 4, with checks and supportive contingency arrangements to ensure successful and efficient implementation, which can be sustained after the completion of project assistance. It is accordingly expected that a competent cadre of national expertise will be available to support subsequent commercial fish-farming enterprise.
Competent private fish-farmers and women extensionists must be selected and given further training particularly through overseas study tours. It is felt that the specific capacity of female specialists in fish-breeding and fry husbandry in the Philippines and Indonesia would be exemplary patterns for similar development in Kenya through technical high-schools and farmer training centres.
From past production records the total numbers of fingerlings, from January-September 1986, provided for stocking ponds were as follows: (1 kg=100 fingerlings) Kibos 9,000; DOF stations 2,100; private farmers 26,600. This indicates that the bulk of fry production for stocking now derives from supplies of farmers' ponds. Accordingly, although GOK provides the fingerlings at KShs 15/- per kg, and private farmers sell at between 50 to 100/- per kg it is clear that farmers have already provided, by the breeding multiplication from their ponds, the greatest supply for the project during this year. It also is clear that in the Kisii district they supplied 93% of stocking requirements. These fry may not be progeny of the most select strains, yet they provided the immediate needs to stock district farm ponds. It therefore already indicates the feasibility that private fry production centres can begin to function in an organized way. The arrangement may be further improved with selected broodstock to satisfy farmers' urgent needs for and robust fingerlings at reasonable cost.
Apart from high production costs (due to larger maintenance teams than may be needed GOK fry centres keep their fingerlings to a larger size in the ponds, so as to provide more robust fish for stocking. At the same time the ponds are serving other functions. Thus the numbers of fingerlings produced from their ponds per year are less than from similar farmers' ponds. GOK fry centres can be therefore be sources of select broodstock while private fry centres can be organized and encouraged to supply farmers with fingerlings for grow-out as table fish. However, natural predation by frogs, birds, etc. on fry, and the removal of select broodstock for table fish must be controlled in all government fry production centres, for maximum efficiency.
The most attractive options may be the establishment of institutional ponds for table-fish and fingerlings i.e. FTC's, schools, prisons, NGO's church groups, etc. These should then get select government broodstock fingerlings with the aim of supplying large numbers of fry for grow-out ponds (i.e. table fish production).
To reduce the continuing high management costs upon LBDA, small fry-producing centres could in future be set up, initially operated by LBDA, and later leased to private groups to operate and supply seedstock. This is done in some Asian countries. However it may be difficult to establish and enforce efficient operating and maintenance standards, when considering the past experience of some neglected and virtually abandoned stations. Consequently, it would seem that the fastest practical option in areas of high fry demand is to assist and encourage private farmers to develop fry production centres. This could apply to the Kakamega and Siaya areas. The operation of Kibos and Rongo stations should continue as centres where select broodstock are maintained, while that established at Borabu, and other proposed new centres, should be commercially managed (privately by groups or individuals) for targetted supply needs at agreed prices. For the efficient survival of fingerlings, it is essential that predation by frogs, birds, monitor lizards, predacious insects, etc. be controlled by traps or systems that do not affect fingerlings. This aspect needs particular attention by station staff and recommended methods must be demonstrated by extensionists.
Studies should clearly determine production costs in simple fry--production units (segregated sexed fish, breeding ponds and nursery ponds) in a separate part of Kibos station. Simple cage units should be organized to hold male and female broodstock in fertile ponds or reservoir dams, for breeding batches of fingerlings in “happas” in nursery ponds. Such units, very common in Asian fishculture, may be the cheapest fast-track approach for mass production of fingerlings in permanent dams. Once established, these happa units are capable of using nursery pond space very efficiently, with several separate batches of seedling fish, concurrently being raised from select broodstock held in sex-segregated cages in deep fertile reservoir dams.
On returning from the Philippine training, the fish culturists should set up these systems in a station and suitable reservoirs. Private groups should be aided by revolving fund credit to pursue such production systems.
These aspects are essential and desirable features in developing a fish-farming programme. However, the initial priority thrust of the project has correctly been to train fishfarmers in improved construction and operating systems with the species T. nilotica available from Lake Victoria. The selection of fast growing T. nilotica strains, which may be more tolerant to slightly varied climatic conditions, can require much specialist staff time and detract from their impact in the extension programme. The adequacy of LBDA staff, facilities and operational convenience also present clear limitations for this needed activity.
Accordingly, it has been discussed and agreed in principle, that this aspect can be appropriately entrusted to the KMFRI at Kisumu whose work programme already includes these projects. They also have ponds and holding facilities, an operational vessel on Lake Victoria for collecting live fish, and a station at Sangoro for the study of migratory Labeo species. Their programme inputs can be assisted by consultant services from University of Nairobi (and if needed from overseas also), financed partly by the project.
Priority species are T. nilotica fast-growing and adaptable Lake Victoria strains; T. zillii fast-growing/adaptable for higher altitudes, cooler temperaturs and integrated farming systems; Labeo victorianus, Barbus altianalis, Clarias mossambicus, and Protopterus for polyculture.
These studies can take a long time but, for the narrow aims of the project, should be focussed on sharp goals of the collection and field testing of species with well-designed experiments over a limited time of 18 months subject to renewal.
Studies on the breeding of these species, their confinement, growth and culture in ponds and associated problems, are already being conducted by KMFRI. The selected researcher should carefully review the published literature and current status of such activities and profit from the findings. Work has been done in neighbouring countries on Clarias, Labeo and Barbus and, though there may be sub-specific variations, those findings should be of much relevance and therefore the methods should be applicable.
Many of these studies can be done in floating cages and simple handling techniques must be perfected by researchers to ensure high survival of broodstock and fry. Experimental growth of many of these species can also be conducted in rigid cages as well as happas which can also be established in tertiary ponds of waste water treatment systems. It should be stressed that these ponds, designed to be free of human pathogens, are very nutrient rich but may not have high oxygen levels.
Contractual Studies
Breeding and nursery rearing of new species: (Clarias, Labeo, Barbus)
Aims: to standardize simple artificial breeding, and rearing systems of juvenile fish species for mass production in fish-farming; to test their growth rates and survival when fed and cultured in confined farm ponds with other species especially T. nilotica or T. zillii; to determine the maximum production yields in polyculture combinations through varied stocking densities.
Outputs required:
4–5 cm juvenile fish, produced for stocking farm ponds, at least 1000 per spawning.
Low-cost feeding systems, developed from locally available products, with demonstrated growth rates.
Stocking rates and densities of different species combinations.
The principal objective of the WFTI at least as far as the fisheries sector is concerned is to train and upgrade government staff of the Department of Fisheries, to enable them to perform more effectively in their present and future posts. This covers particularly existing staff and a few new recruits, since there is no planned expansion of the personnel establishment of the Department. The Jingu and Ruppin report proposes that the WFTI should also provide specialized training for certain other departments and for neighbouring countries. This is apparently accepted in principle but not yet specifically planned, however with fishculture now specifically included in the curriculum of the new basic 8-4-4 education system, orientation courses in fisheries matters for teachers will clearly require some priority attention.
The duties of the Department of Fisheries, for whom staff are to be trained, includes overall fisheries development planning, the administration of policy, the regulation of the fishery industry as required, but above all the provision of extension services to the private sector - artisanal and industrial, which is currently responsible for virtually 100 percent of the fish production of the country. The capture fisheries in Kenya's lakes, rivers, reservoirs and coastal waters are considered to exploit most available resources at near the maximum sustained rate (and occasionally beyond it) thus the aim of the extension services must be to improve efficiency (catch per unit effort) and reduce wastage and spoilage of the products; but a new deliberate programme to achieve this has not yet been, detailed.
The aquaculture sector can be expanded in some areas and the Department of Fisheries has established a general programme to “show the way” for aquaculture development in the private sector both for small holders (e.g. collaborative efforts with LBDA under project KEN/80/006 and under project KEN/80/018) and for semi-intensive commercial scale operators (Kabonyo Fish-Farming Centre, and project KEN/80/018).
The Institute can therefore plan its training programme by providing the basic theoretical training in fisheries with specialization of short (work experience) or long duration (experimental project) at the various Government stations or enterprises. Later it can offer more specialized courses in the country.
Being a training institution planned specifically for government staff the WFTI has no direct effect on the employment and income opportunities of small holders. Indirectly, through the deployment of better trained and skilled fisheries extension personnel it should in some sectors e.g. aquaculture, demonstrate and encourage new employment opportunities, and in all sectors of aquaculture, fishing, processing and marketing operations it should stimulate improvements in efficiency - thus increasing productivity and individual income levels. It has already been recommended that for certain specialized technical disciplines e.g. mechanics, boat drivers, refrigeration and cold storage engineers, the WFTI should also provide direct training for individuals from the private sector. This will be possible when their programme is fully established with particular short courses.
As mentioned above the WFTI will be able to contribute only indirectly to the development of the skills of small holders, but the skill development of technicians, Fishery Officers grade and extension workers (Fisheries' Assistants, Fish Scouts) is its principal function. Emphasis is placed on the upgrading of existing staff of the Department of Fisheries which totals 1,062 posts of job grade K (Fishery Officers) and below - plus new recruits replacing retirees: there is no significant expansion envisaged in the personnel establishment of the Department. Presumably fisheries and agriculture related staff from other government agencies (KMFRI, Department of Agriculture, of Irrigation, LBDA, etc.) would be eligible for inclusion in the upgrading programme, but their requirements are probably minimal.
The declared aim is to recycle gradually all the Assistant Fishery Officers, Fisheries Assistants and Fish Scouts totalling 937 who have relatively elementary, and variable, levels of basic education, in order to give them a general background to the reasons and mechanisms of fisheries development, government procedures and policies, as well as to improve their technical knowledge and skills in fisheries matters. This institutional training should also provide the opportunity for assessment of levels of the performance and skills amongst the candidates, permitting the most qualified to be considered eventually for promotion and further appropriate training, as well as building up an esprit-de-corps and motivating force, amongst these lower-level staff who often work in relative isolation.
However an effective extension officer needs to have innovative practical skills not only in a particular discipline, but also in communicating his knowledge to fishermen and farmers. Fishery activities comprise a considerable range of skills, and as technology develops the range of skills becomes ever wider; thus individual extension officers to be effective need more than a general background; they need also to develop special abilities in particular disciplines and solve problems in the field.
Priority sectors for attention in such courses are stated to be aquaculture, fish processing/preservation, fisheries management and fishing technology. Since the WFTI staff now recruited can only deal with some of these topics, the programme of the Institute should focus on the order of priority as well as on the staff's capabilities, and should use all nationally available facilities and personnel in such training courses.
For aquaculture training, as an example, the curriculum may be planned in conjunction with staff from the Department of Fisheries (DOF) to involve warm-water species at the stations in the Kisumu/Lake Basin area; carp species at the Sagana station; cold water species at the trout station, Kiganjo, and coastal systems at the Ngomeni aquafarm. The coursework could then involve use of the Naivasha facilities and an introduction to the aquaculture activities of these particular areas of the country. Station chiefs could each outline the activities, aims and operational problems which they tackle, and subsequently the trainees in certificate or diploma courses could gain further work or project experience at these stations. This will sharpen the focus and purpose of training activities.
In this way the Institute's establishment, equipment acquisition and use can be phased to suit the most urgent and convenient programme needs. This will both assist in the process of building up the competence and confidence of the staff, and in the coordination process with other departments (Agriculture, etc.) as well as rural group activities or development projects. It should involve the use of all available specialists in Kenya, tie together the Institute's coursework that is directly relevant to current operations, and orient trainees (and staff) towards current problems and needs. Because there is a wide range of activities it may be prudent to prioritise the development needs and focus the training programme in an appropriate sequence in the initial year. It can be modified and improved with experience.
As another example, regarding fish processing and preservation, the priority areas are stated to be: improved traditional fish processing systems to avoid wastage (sun-drying, smoking, salting, frying), packaging and storage, quality control and fish inspection, use of ice and chilled storage, with less priority on freezing systems. Other significant needs are development of stable products, fish silage and fish meal, and sanitary controls in fish processing industries and markets. The role of the Fisheries Assistants of DOF in specific geographical areas has also to be realistically confined to those activities which can yield the best results. Accordingly specialization and longer-term assignments in those areas are needed. Close collaboration with small and large industrial enterprises in fish processing will be needed and the inputs of the sector specialists available at KMFRI should be useful in developing the course curriculum. As a consequence the equipment needs for the agreed target disciplines areas of training can be progressively satisfied.
While it is appreciated that the initial courses of refresher training for Fish Scouts and Assistant Fisheries Officers have been organized on an ad hoc basis as a “run-in” exercise to get activities underway (120 provisionally processed out of a total complement of 907) the future programme specializations and for DOF staff (the Certificate and Diploma courses) should be deliberately arranged in the light of national needs with coherent planning in the selection of trainees for particular courses carefully scheduled in advance. Senior DOF staff and station managers of each major fishery should help the Principal of WFTI plan such a programme and a realistic practical schedule of course and field assignments should be arranged. These should use the existing facilities at field stations as much as possible, until the Institute's equipment and facilities are installed and fully functional.
Subsequently the various specialized refresher courses indicated in the Jingu/Ruppin report can be phased in, according to the priority needs, while equipment, staff and teaching materials are obtained.
Apart from occasional orientation courses given for new graduates entering Fisheries Officer level, recently declared policy includes fishculture as a specific new component of the 8-year primary education curriculum, means that there is now an urgent need to provide short orientation courses and simple instructional material regarding fishculture practices and opportunities in the Kenyan situation - for the teachers concerned, so that the correct basic concepts can be taught regarding this relatively new and unknown science.
The WFTI has the basic facilities to prepare such instructional material in collaboration with the other government agencies concerned - particularly the Ministry of Education, DOF, KMFRI, LBDA, Zoology Department, University of Nairobi, Moi University, etc. It should shortly have operational fish ponds, fish breeding tanks and aquaria, but whenever possible visits should be made also to the harvesting of production ponds at demonstration centres and small-holders' farms. Special short courses in aquaculture should be given to agriculture teachers of the schools that have established demonstration fishponds, in operating principles and practices.
The current training given for Fish Scouts, Assistant Fisheries Officers, and induction/orientation for Fisheries Officers, is almost entirely theoretical: although field visits are arranged, the Institute with excellent campus facilities, presently lacks many practical teaching aids and materials - and indeed the specially designed fisheries station on the lake shore is still being finished, but few funds are available for fitting it out. Since fisheries extension work is essentially a practical science, it is very important that practical work be taught and revised - thus some basic equipment and materials need to be provided, although very little sophisticated apparatus and equipment is needed for the Fish Scouts/Assistant Fisheries Officers courses, since they should deal firstly with the simple locally available materials and techniques that are commonly used by traditional fishermen.
Furthermore they should be trained to improvise and to build the equipment they recommend. Their practical coursework must involve pond construction, carpenty experience in making smoking and drying systems, practical fish salting, splitting, drying, packaging, and the use of traditional as well as improved systems.
Not relevant in the context of the WFTI.
Section 2 above has already discussed some basic issues regarding the specific skills which the Institute is scheduled to provide.
The Institute has been physically constructed in an excellent manner and the first complement of staff have been appointed included 5 lecturers and 4 instructors in the fisheries sector. One lecturer post is however filled on an ad hoc basis by the secondment of an experienced officer to the Institute from DOF. One other post is filled by an officer currently undergoing M.Sc. level training in Aquaculture in Nigeria.
Apart from specialist posts which are vacant the lecturers already in service have indicated several constraints in their work. They have all been recruited from being active professional officers serving in DOF or KMFRI, without any further training or specialization in teaching skills. Curriculum development (of coursework programmes most relevant for Kenya) must be provided. Audio-visual aids for lecture materials, practical models and work materials have to be developed by lecturers and instructors themselves as resourcefully as possible, with the help of DOF and sister departments. Successive batches of students will add to these models as they build them at the Institute and repeat their experience at field stations.
While overseas institutions may provide some courses the experience of Universities and teacher training colleges, KIA, KIM and the various international institutions and activities in Kenya should be able to provide needed guidance for WFTI staff, if appropriately organized. Inputs in this important sector should be for a limited term since with so few lecturers available absence of any member for a long (12 month) course would significantly increase the burden on the others.
At the same time opportunities should be taken to obtain the services of other fisheries experts in Kenya, particularly those with long practical experience in private and/or commercial sectors, as well as government service, to give practical demonstrations and talks, for the benefit of staff as much as students so that a wider base of understanding of the Kenyan fisheries industry, artisanal as well as as industrial, can be built up. In this same context Institute staff should be permitted and encouraged to visit and examine ongoing private and government fisheries activities in the country. They should attend whenever possible any national or international seminars on fisheries matters held in Kenya, particularly those dealing with lake and marine fishery resources shared with neighbouring countries.
Having been inaugurated only in mid 1985 the Institute has so far not built up many practical working relationships with other government departments (apart from the Fisheries Department and Wildlife Conservation and Management Department also under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife) or professional institutions, either in Kenya, in Africa, or overseas.
This contact is important to develop, not only from the practical and mutual assistance that can be achieved from exchange of documentation, specialized training materials and equipment, visiting lecturers, etc. but equally from the “ethical” point of view - since it is important that the staff and thus the students, be aware of the current situation of fisheries industry in the country and its relationship with the changing situation outside Kenya.
Literature and relevant publications should be collected from national sources as well as the fishery reports from adjacent or similar countries. As a start all the FAO country reports and other published studies on Kenya's fisheries, various technical papers (aquaculture, craft, gear, management, etc.) should be obtained and copied for the WFTI reference library, as the basis for lecture material. This must be done particularly by the lecturers themselves. Basic texts are most likely readily available in University, KMFRI and DOF libraries, and extracts of most relevant aspects may have to be initially used until the library is adequately established. With increasing experience these lecture notes will form the skeleton of an extension manual for field assistants.
One most important element in institutional and manpower development is the need for fine adjustment of the Institute's immediate and medium-term programme to the priorities and changing needs of the country. This implies a detailed field investigation together with the Department of Fisheries of the professional skills required in each sector of the nation's fisheries, both now and in the next decade or so, so that a plan of courses required can be scheduled and prepared with sufficient advance notice to allow specific detailed curricula (teaching materials, practical exercises, demonstrations and visits) to be adequately prepared for each course.
Similarly, arrangements should be made for feed-back on a long-term basis after each course, particularly from the intermediate and senior trainees, as to how their training received matches the demands of their day to day duties. This may be further tied in by having such staff provide, at the start of their courses, a statement of their operational work problems and how they think their field services could be made more effective.
The proposed project (see annex 4) for institutional support to WFTI involves a phased approached with urgent priority given to improving the practical implementation of the currently scheduled courses for Fish Scouts and Assistant Fisheries Officers. It includes inputs for identifying and supplying basic teaching materials and equipment, and for consultancy advice in fitting out the fisheries centre at the lake shore; in providing training/instruction skills for selected lecturers, and in initiating the work needed for the detailed development of a schedule and curricula for new courses to be started up in the future, particularly the Certificate and Diploma courses in Fisheries. This should accord with the detailed national fisheries development plan and its priorities. It does not cover improvements in the general campus facilities, stores buildings, laundry facilities which will be needed in the longer term for safe maintenance of major equipment, for students domestic arrangements, common to all disciplines.
The immediate implication for the government budget is an increased short-term requirement for staff training, for supplies and materials, for some short-term consultancy services by national or resident experts. In the longer-term another important allocation for equipment and some buildings will be required, but in both cases the personnel complement already scheduled for the operation of the Institute will not be significantly altered and the recurrent operation and maintenance costs will not be expected to increase much. The current operational costs of the Institute have not been examined in any detail: but given the low number and frequency of courses and the newness of the facilities, the actual costs should be relatively low although costs per student will be high.
The 1986/87 Development Budget of the Institute is K£ 45 002 and the Recurrent Budget K£ 303 768: no details were given of breakdown by item of expenditure, but the Principal of WFTI indicates that these allocations are inadequate for further development this year but Treasury allocations for future years are still unknown.
It is therefore recommended that UNDP and/or FAO be requested to assist in funding and implementing an immediate first phase of the project, but that during this phase efforts should be made to interest and associate a number of other bilateral and multilateral agencies in implementation of the subsequent phase.
There has already been considerable coordination between senior level staff dealing with both Wildlife and Fisheries aspects of the Institute including a team of experts assembled in 1979 to consider and report on syllabus and curriculum development at WFTI. More recently, in October 1986, a meeting at the Institute of the heads of the fisheries agencies, including DOF, KMFRI, WFTI, etc. was held. This coordination and collaboration should be strengthened as the Institute develops by the inclusion of representatives from a wider range of institutions both government (e.g. Moi University, Ministry of Education) and private (particularly on the wildlife side) a more practical collaboration amongst technical staff as guest lecturers for topics and possibly reinforced by visits and exchanges.
This has been briefly raised in section 7 above: UNDP and/or FAO should be requested to assist in funding and implementing the urgent and immediate first phase in order to permit the ongoing junior level courses in fisheries (Fish Scouts, Assistant Fish Officers) to include essential practical training exercises, to review and prioritise activities under the fisheries development plan, and to develop appropriate detailed schedules and curricula for additional courses for the future particularly the Certificate and Diploma courses.
Given the major interest by many external agencies in the training of Kenyans, it is believed that as soon as the Institute has shown its capacity during initial courses, and that a clear and complete overall training plan and schedule is available, then other agencies may well be prepared to provide short-term inputs, to permit the Institute to build itself up to full capacity - which would include acceptance of students from other African countries lacking such a specialized training institution. First steps must however be undertaken for the initial staff specifically charged with particular responsibilities to establish these initial curricula based on national activities and development.
The Institute has a staff composed entirely of national experts, however some posts (in the Wildlife sector) apparently remain unfilled for lack of qualified candidates. In the Fisheries sector virtually all posts are filled, albeit with relatively recent graduates who have not yet received special training in teaching methodology. One lecturer has been seconded from DOF on an indefinite basis, but for the Institute this is welcome arrangement since he has had considerable practical experience in a wide range of the different fisheries situations in Kenya. Greater use could well be made in future of other fisheries experts resident in Kenya - both nationals and foreigners, from both government institutions and the private sector, to provide short-term practical demonstrations and lectures. The broad overview of the status and development activities of the fisheries sector should be given at the initial stages so that the role of staff in reaching these goals is clearly seen.
Presently with mostly junior level courses being run, such inputs are not critical, but for the Fishery Officers induction courses, the eventual Certificate and Diploma courses, as well as the forseen specialized refresher and technical courses envisaged, such varied and specialized inputs will be essential.
This has already been discussed under section 6 above : in summary the Institute has excellent basic physical facilities which are still undergoing completion and still need to be equipped for effective practical teaching/demonstration and student participation. Priority must be given to materials and equipment needed for ongoing courses (Fish Scouts, Assistant Fishery Officers). Other rather more sophisticated equipment requirements can only be confirmed when detailed curricula are developed for the more advanced courses and full consideration should be given to making use of the specialized fisheries equipment which already exists at other fisheries institutions in the country (DOF Stations, KMFRI, etc.). The numbers of staff of the fisheries section seem perhaps adequate for the current ongoing basic courses, but much reinforcement of their teaching skills and experience will be needed for effective implementation of higher level courses. Similarly, with the expected increases in the number, frequency and variety of courses to be offered, the planning and coordination of the curricula will become considerably more complex, and will require special attention. The capabilities and relevant experience of lecturers will then have to be appropriately improved to cater for such needs.
Detailed curricula for the ongoing courses and a definite calendar of future courses were not yet developed, and although the range of subjects covered appeared satisfactory the lecturers themselves were uncertain as to what level of detail each topic should be treated. Because of the lack of practical materials and facilities instruction is currently of necessary classroom/lecture oriented. However practical hands-on training and experience is absolutely essential for extensionists whose job will be to instruct and advise fishermen and small holders in practical matters. This lack of practicality is a very serious lacuna at present. The Institute does not presently plan in the near future any direct teaching of private fishermen and small holders. When fully organized the Institute can help certain specialized fisheries trades receive direct instruction where indicated or requested.
An expert in curriculum development techniques should initially assist the director of students and staff. Other requirements have been generally discussed above; advisory services are immediately required from experienced fisheries instructors to develop and equip the Institute's basic facilities with practical teaching aids. Separate specialists in tropical fishculture, breeding and varied integrated production systems, and in fishing technology are recommended. Inputs also will be required to devise and participate in the investigations and field studies into the detailed skilled manpower requirements of the fisheries extension services, according to the targets of the national development plans targets for the fisheries sector. Such activities should be complementary to the general overview and strategic planning of the fishery sector which should be undertaken.
