1.1.1 Until recently Rwanda has been more or less self-sufficient as regards food supplies. Now, however, the estimated rate of population increase is greater than the rate of increase of food production. The traditional way of producing more food, by taking more land under cultivation, is no longer an adequate solution, partly because most of the remaining land is less fertile; average yields per hectare are already decreasing. Some of the fertile land is nowadays devoted to the cash crops which are necessary if various desirable goods not produced in the country are to be procured. If this is to continue, and if sufficient food is to be produced for a population that is expected to double in the next ten to fifteen years, more productive use must be made of the land and waters. At the same time, it is desirable to increase the amount of food available to the average individual and the proportion of animal protein in his diet.
1.1.2 To these ends, the Government of Rwanda is taking various steps to stimulate domestic food production, including activities aimed at increased catches from the capture fisheries in the lakes. They have also taken the initial steps toward embarking on a programme to increase the production of fish from the numerous subsistence-level ponds operated by farming families and groups of small farmers throughout the cultivated valleys, the productivity of which could be much improved. It is believed that there is scope for extending the area of land devoted to fish farming without incurring unacceptable reductions in the total amounts of other crops produced. Any fish surplus to local requirements would provide much-needed extra cash income. The proposal to stimulate development of fish culture at the family and cooperative level has been the subject of a request for financial aid from the Government of Rwanda to the International Development Agency of the United States of America (USAID).
1.2.1 The representatives of USAID in Rwanda requested the assistance of FAO in assessing the potential for aquaculture development and in drawing up detailed proposals. Mr. U.W. Schmidt, the socio-economist on the staff of the FAO/UNDP Inter-regional Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme (ADCP) visited Rwanda in June 1980 and again in September 1980 in the company of Mr. M.M.J. Vincke, the senior aquaculturist of the ADCP; this report is the result.
1.2.2 Other organizations are to provide reports to USAID on various other aspects of the proposed programme, including the possible long-term effects on the environment and ecology, and on public health. The introduction of improved systems of rural fish farming does not usually have serious adverse effects on environment or health and could, as indicated later below, be beneficial to the latter in some respects.
The present report discusses the technical, economic, social and financial feasibility of small-scale rural fish farming enterprises in Rwanda and the factors inhibiting higher productivity and expansion; it also indicates the nature and amount of inputs required to carry out an effective programme of development aimed at a significant increase in supplies at acceptable costs.
Valuable information was provided by Dr. G. Mahy and Mr. P.B. Ndengejeho of the National University of Rwanda in Butare and by Mr. M. Monnon, who was at the time a member of a mission to Rwanda sponsored jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the African Development Bank. The authors are grateful to many other private persons and officials of the Government and of USAID, and especially to Mr. E. Chiavaroli and Mr. J. Barker, of the latter agency, for their unfailing cooperation and assistance.
