4. THE FISHERIES

4.1 Supply, Demand and Price of Fish

4.1.1 The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, in their 1978 Annual Report¹, estimated the output of lake fisheries during that year at 709 256 kg. The existing 2 662 fish ponds (see Table 5) produced an additional 15 277 kg during that year according to official figures which are not complete; the Mission estimated a total of 18 891 kg.

4.1.2 These figures suggest an extremely low consumption: below 3 g per caput and per day (Aubray, 1976), the overall consumption of protein foods being 46.8 g per caput and per day in 1978, according to the 1978 annual report of the Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Elévage.

4.1.3 This significant lack of animal protein indicates a substantial potential demand for fish in Rwanda, in spite of the fact that fish is not part of the traditional local diet in the country. Reizer (1975) observed a daily per caput fish consumption of 50 g in a Government settlement scheme (paysannat) close to Lake Kirimbi and used this figure as the basis for estimating the potential fish consumption in Rwanda. He estimated the potential demand at four levels, at 63 g/day (his estimate of the optimal intake level to compensate for the overall protein deficiency) at 50 g/day, at 100 g/week (to allow two meals of fish), and at 50 g/week (to allow one meal with fish). His demand projections are summarized in Annex 2. They range from 13 000 t/year to 113 000 t/year. Either figure is greatly in excess of present production.

Again, considering the urban population, and assuming a consumption level of 5 kg/year per caput (compare the national average of 4 kg to 5 kg for Burundi; 15 kg for Uganda and 13 kg for Tanzania) this very small section of the population alone might create an annual demand of over 1 000 tons, more than the present total supplies.

4.1.4 Fish is consumed fresh, dried and smoked. Fresh fish commands the highest prices. The World Bank records a controlled price for fresh fish of Rw.F. 55/kg in 1975 (IBRD, 1977). At present, prices to the consumer fluctuate between Rw.F. 60 and 140/kg.

¹ Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Elévage. Rapport Annuel 1978, Kigali, République Rwandaise, 1979

4.2 Potential for Expansion

4.2.1 Part of the potential (future) demand for fish could be satisfied by the expansion and intensification of the capture fisheries. The Government are taking active steps in these directions. The potential according to Mahy (1979) is over 16 000 t/year; if this is a theoretical maximum based on biomass estimates and reproductive cycles it will not have taken into account practical limitations, such as, for example, that a successful commercial fishery cannot develop except when the behaviour of the fish facilitates the use of one or other of the known methods of capture, and that not all of the catch may be regarded as edible or marketable. Even if it is a realistic figure, based on analysis of catches and effort, it should be regarded as a figure to be approached but not attained, since it is seldom good economics to attempt to take the maximum sustainable yield. Thus, at best, it is likely that only the lowest of Reizer's estimates of potential demand could be met by concentrating all development on the capture fisheries. Both Reizer (1975) and Aubray (1976) thought the possibilities for their development rather limited. Sustained yields would also depend on effective control of effort and management of the fisheries, which in Lake Kivu would require effective international cooperation.

4.2.2 The expansion of aquaculture is the other possible way of increasing fish supplies. There is already some tradition of fish farming, considerable interest in its possibilities on the part of farmers, and apparent opportunities to rehabilitate existing ponds and create new ones. Among the more obvious advantages is that much of the fish could be produced where it is to be consumed, whereas a large proportion of the production of the capture fisheries would have to be transported over some distance before it could be marketed.

4.3 Present State of Aquaculture

4.3.1 Fish farming began in Rwanda at the end of the forties and was actively fostered by the Belgian colonial administration. At the end of the fifties the total pond area under production was about 450 ha (Aubray, 1976), producing some 180 t/year: an average yield of about 400 kg/ha/year.

Two main fingerling production centres were constructed during this period: at l'Ecole des Assistants Agricoles, Butare, in 1952: and the Kigembe Station in 1954.

During the years 1960–65 development of fish culture in Rwanda came to a standstill and many existing ponds were abandoned. The main reason for this was the disappearance of the support for rural fish farming by way of extension services, fingerling production, training, technical advice, and so on, formerly provided by the colonial administration. Nevertheless, it was estimated that 448 ponds still existed in 1966, with a total surface of 84 ha approximately (Meschkat, 1967).

The Government resumed an active interest in small-scale fish farming in the late sixties. During the years 1967–73 two UNDP/FAO projects were implemented with the aim of reactivating the Kigembe Centre and of carrying out trials on culture of common carp, Tilapia macrochir, T. rendalli and Clarias carsonii. Tilapia fingerlings were produced and several ponds in rural areas were stocked again.

On 5 April 1970 an agreement between the Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Elévage and CRDI (Centre de Recherches pour le Développement International, Ottawa, Canada) was signed to implement the ELADEP Project (‘Empoisonnement des lacs du Pays et Développement de la Pêche’). The headquarters of this project are at the Ruganwa Fish Station at Kigali. ELADEP's main activities are experiments in growing different species in aquaria and ponds at the Ruganwa Fish Station and the Kigembe Centre and the training of extension workers (moniteurs piscicoles) at Kigembe. ELADEP has activities also at the Rusumo Fish Station (Karangwa, 1979). All the people from Rwanda who have so far been trained in fish farming and fisheries at the ‘Centre de Formation’ in Bouaké, Ivory Coast, have been assigned to this project.

4.3.2 By 1978, the number of ponds, surface area and the production were as given in Table 4. According to these figures, the average yield is now less than 200 kg fish/ha/year. The average surface of the ponds is 2.92 ares.

Table 4

Census of Fish Ponds
(1978)

¹ Production figures not quoted, but calculated by the Mission on the average yield obtained in the ponds in the other prefectures (243.3 kg fish/ha/year). The annual estimated production is thus 18 891 kg instead of 15 277 kg

Source: Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Elévage - Rapport Annuel 1978

4.3.3 At present only two species are commonly cultured: Tilapia melanopleura (it may be T. rendalli and not the true T. melanopleura) and T. macrochir. Tilapia nilotica is also raised, but only in Kigali. Clarias carsonii, C. mossambica, Serranochromis macrocephela and Cyprinus carpio (common carp) are also to be found in a few ponds.

Fingerlings of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and according to reports other Chinese carps, including silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) were introduced in December 1979 at the Ruganwa Fish Station in Kigali by a North Korean Mission. The object is to rear the carp to maturity and try to spawn them for fingerling production. Trials on induced spawning will start in December 1980. The average weight of the grass carps was around 2 kg in September 1980.

4.3.4 The Annual Report (1978) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock records the construction of seven prefectural fish breeding stations:

4.3.5 The state of aquaculture in the seven prefectures where fish production is considered to be of high priority is summarized in Table 5.

Table 5

State of Aquaculture in the Seven Prefectures
where Development of Aquaculture is considered as a Priority

4.3.6 In 1979 the Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Elévage prepared a programme for aquaculture development to be carried out in each of the prefectures and communes of the country.

The programme provides for (Minagri, 1979) the building of a fish breeding station composed of 16 ponds each of 15 ares in each of the ten prefectures; and the building of one communal fish breeding station of 12 ponds of 10 ares each in each of 100 communes.

The total area of these stations will be:

No detailed cost estimates were available but the Government estimates the cost of construction (including excavation works, construction materials, etc.) to be Rw.F. 2 000 000 (U.S.$ 21 978) per hectare. Total cost for 144 ha would be Rw.F. 288 million (U.S.$ 3 169 230).

4.4 Research, Development, Training

4.4.1 There are four institutions in Rwanda which could carry out training and research in fish culture:

• ‘Institut des Sciences Agronomique’ at Rubono/Kigali

• ‘Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique’ at Butare

• ‘Université National de la Recherche Scientifique’ at Butare

• ‘Institut National de Pedagogie’ at Butare

At present, however, training and research efforts by these institutions are insignificant, the National University at Butare being the only one which offers specialized courses in Fisheries Biology and Fish Culture; in 1980 only four students received a degree in this discipline.

Rwandans with appropriate entrance qualifications could attend external training and research centres such as the FAO/UNDP Regional Aquaculture Centre in Nigeria and the Fisheries School in the Ivory Coast. These people, however, can never constitute more than a very small cadre of highly trained specialists.

4.4.2 Agriculture and fisheries extension work is organized by prefectures and communes, with prefectural and communal extension workers (agronomists, A2), sectoral extension workers (agronomists, A3) and extension workers who act on the colline level (moniteurs).¹

Extension personnel officially working for fisheries and fish culture comprised, in 1978, four specialized A2 agronomists (working mainly in lake fisheries), two other A2 agronomists, four A3 agronomists and 23 extension staff without special training. A prefectural breakdown is given in Table 6.

¹ A2 agronomists are usually graduates of the Agricultural University and A3 agronomists of agricultural colleges. Moniteurs have little or no educational background above that of basic schooling.

Table 6

Fisheries Extension Personnel
(1978)

Source: Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Elévage - Rapport Annuel 1978