Fish farming has been providing substantial socio-economic benefits to over 2,000 households in the Ruvuma region. It provides household members with fresh fish, which is highly valued as meat and is otherwise rarely available. Fish farming also augments the disposable income of households, enabling them to meet occasional cash needs. Fish farming was actively taken up during the late 1980s when support to fish farming extension was provided by US PCVs.
During the survey, it was revealed that technical advice provided by DOF staff were often not implemented by fish farmers. It was also observed that a number of FFUs have become inactive, and that an increasing number of ponds has not been operating. This can be attributed to a lack of quality fingerling supplies and to limited dissemination of knowledge appropriate for FFUs.
Difficulty in access to good-quality fingerlings is identified as a principal bottleneck for developing aquaculture in the Ruvuma region. In view of the remoteness of villages in the region and the limited resources available within regional fisheries administrations, village-based fingerling production and extension would provide a good selection. Key farmers, both men and women, can be trained to produce suitable fingerlings for supplying neighbouring fish farmers. As it has been successful in some of the countries in Asia (i.e., Vietnam), the possibility of involving women in maintaining backyard hatchery production could be investigated.
Fish farming extension has been carried out solely by DoF staff, and dissemination of technical advice to FFUs and potential interested farmers has been minimal. Women were often excluded from receiving the information. According to the survey, a major source of information on FFUs is neighbouring farmers; farmer-to-farmer diffusion of information seems effective. Key fish farmers could be trained to act as village-based aquaculture extension agents. Production of visual aids, which can be used by fish farming extensionists and key farmers, will also facilitate this process. Collaboration could be established with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) based in Arusha region.12 Extension agents of other ministries, such as agricultural extensionists, community development officers, and NGO staff could be trained on basic fish farming techniques and extension modules to support fisheries officers.
In addition, development of stratified extension packages suitable for different types of FFUs is called for in order to increase the effectiveness of the extension service faced with limited available resources. For instance, packages could be developed for 1) subsistence FFUs, which are constrained by lack of labour and agriculture by-products, and have little possibility of intensifying management (e.g. cash crop dependent FFHs in Tunduru), 2) semi-intensive FFUs which have scope for expanding or intensifying operations (e.g. Songea rural) and 3) semi-intensive FFUs with potential for expansion (e.g. urban areas of Mbinga and Songea urban). Such packages can be developed in collaboration with proposed project on applied aquaculture research in Morogoro.
The survey has provided a basic picture of aquaculture in Ruvuma region with moderate costs (US$ 9,000 excluding international staff costs) and during a fairly short period of time (six weeks including pre-survey preparation, data processing and preliminary analysis).
It is recommended that such surveys be replicated in other regions in order to assess development potential and formulate national development policies for the aquaculture sub-sector. Follow-up surveys can be conducted in regions where physical conditions for fish farming are favourable and where there is good potential for improving aquaculture practices (e.g. Mbeya, Iringa, Arusha and Morogoro). The following aspects could be taken into account when follow-up surveys are planned. (For details of follow-up survey proposals, see Annex VII).
Persons other than fisheries staff members could be involved in the survey team - such as agricultural extensionists, field staff under Ministry of Community Development, Women and Youth, staff/volunteers of NGOs involved in aquaculture development.
The survey teams could be organized in such a way as to allow a stay of 3–4 days in the same village. Daily shifting of stations from one village to another makes it difficult to organize informal interviews. Participant observation, to enable qualitative information collection, also becomes difficult.
The pond census (list of ponds) which provides the sampling frame, should be improved. The structure of the census should be standardized and contain selected essential information. The census should include standardized names for administrative boundaries, the full name and sex of the owners, the number of the ponds, the status of ponds (either operational or non-operational). Clear instructions must be given to fisheries officers in order to avoid duplication, omission and confusion.
The results of the agricultural census should be consulted for drawing up a sampling frame and selecting the enumeration area. Pilot agricultural censuses are being conducted in Mbinga and Iringa regions. The database of these census should be taken into account by requesting collaboration from the Central Statistics Bureau and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Pre-coded questionnaires should be modified but the modifications should be kept minimal. It would be essential to adjust some questions in order to integrate region-specific characteristics, in view of the modifications to precoding. Care must be taken not to unduly enlarge the questionnaire by adding questions without deleting others.
Open-ended interview schedules can be improved by sorting questions into logical order.
A sustainable monitoring system should be planned. Surveys provide baseline information for monitoring changes over time. Key indicators essential for monitoring the progress of aquaculture and a low cost standardized reporting system could be proposed.
Sharing of survey findings and collaboration in the conduct of aquaculture-related surveys can be done with institutions such as household income- expenditure (HIE) survey unit of the Central Statistics Bureau, Agricultural Statistics Unit, of the Ministry of Agriculture; and the nutrition survey conducted by the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC). Surveys or investigations conducted by these organizations may add inquiries concerning fish consumption patterns, values and norms relating to fish etc. The last HIE survey was conducted in 1976. A new HIE survey is being conducted, and the results of the first quarter of 1992 will be analyzed and compiled as a preliminary report by December 1992. The HIE survey includes households' expenditure on fisheries products. The fisheries products are desegregated by product types: fresh, fresh fried, dried/salted/smoked, and shell fish. Data is desegregated by administrative boundaries (e.g. region), types of households (e.g. male-headed and female-headed households) and occupational groups. TFNC is carrying out in collaboration with UNICEF a Child Survival Development Programme (CSD)16, which monitors the nutritional status of children in 20 villages in Ruvuma region. TFNC is keen about the nutritional impact of fish farming in order to tackle protein energy malnutrition in the area.
A member of the Planning Commission can be involved in the conduct of follow-up surveys. In order that the results of the survey be made use for development planning of the aquaculture sub-sector, Planning Commission officials should be made aware of the status of aquaculture.
