Structured, informal interviews were carried out with 23 fish farming households (Appendix 1) in Mwinilunga District. They were randomly selected out of the 56 fish farmers covered in the ALCOM fish farmer survey in 1988 and were divided with respect to origin and age of their fish farms and to the farming systems they practised. The farmers were from Ikelenge, Nyakaseya, Mwininyilamba and Kanongesha areas. In about half the cases, the fish farmers' wives were also interviewed. Observations and visits were made to the fish farms of the selected respondents as well as to other fish farms (about 40 in total) in order to verify farmers' statements and to get a better picture about the status of fish ponds.
All the eight fish scouts in the district were interviewed, using a formal questionnaire (Appendix 2). (Fish scouts are extension workers employed by the Department of Fisheries, DOF). Production figures, number of operational and abandoned ponds, etc., for all fish farmers in the study area, were collected through the scouts for the period 1st June 1988 to 1st June 1989.
Key informants were interviewed to get an overview of fish farming in the district. Such key informants were agricultural extension workers, nutritionists, missionaries, fish wardens, school teachers and Farming Systems Researchers.
Discussions were held with Department of Fisheries (DOF) staff in Mwinilunga and at the provincial headquarters in Solwezi. Secondary sources of information were used for statistical data.
The methodology of the study is presented in more detail in Appendix 1.
