The Government of Zambia, within the framework of the FAO/ Government Cooperative Programme and with funds generously contributed by the Netherlands, is engaged in project Fish Culture Development (GCP/ZAM/038/NET).
As part of project operations, FAO assigned Mr N.J. MacPherson as consultant (duck-cum-fish culture) from 8 January to 6 February 1990 with the following terms of reference:
Under the supervision of the Chief Technical Adviser of the project, the consultant will:
review the data available at the project on the culture of Peking ducks and fish, with particular attention to its economic aspects;
review critically the socio-economic implications of the introduction of this system of culture in rural areas for the commercially-oriented small-scale farmers;
prepare a report on the above together with recommendations for future activities concerning fish-cum-duck culture in rural areas.
In June 1989 a joint evaluation mission by the Government of the Netherlands and FAO was conducted for Project GCP/ZAM/038/-NET, Fish Culture Development in Zambia. The findings of the mission included the following observations:
“There is considerable potential in Zambia for expansion of fish-farming activities and production utilizing abundant natural resources. In rural areas small- and medium-scale fish-farming, integrated with sustainable agricultural development, offer opportunities to increase local fish supplies considerably.”
“Present data clearly show an unsatisfied demand for fish, limitation of supplies from capture fisheries, import restrictions, a rapidly expanding population, a declining level of per caput fish consumption, resulting in a shortage of protein (especially for children and women in rural areas). There is clearly an opportunity to satisfy present and future national requirements for additional protein through an increasing contribution from fish-farming.”
“The economic viability of fish-cum-Peking duck farming is questioned. The intensive labour, specialized and expensive equipment, high quality feeds and management needed to produce ducks require economic study. The use of the locally available Muscovy duck in integrated fish farming should be considered.”
In connection with the above, the mission made the following recommendation concerning the viability of fish-farming methods and their integration with the present rural sector agriculture in Zambia:
“A consultant should be employed by the project specifically to assess the economic viability of the duck-cum-fish farming system under conditions prevailing in rural areas and also to examine the socio-economic aspects of the integration of fish culture into existing farming systems.”
This report has been prepared in response to the above findings and recommendation, and is based on observations made during a one-month consultancy in January 1990. Information for the report has been collected from visits to government and private sector commercial fish farms, to small- and medium-scale farms, including subsistence level farms in several areas of the country, to government departments and to other assistance projects in the agricultural sector which have activities of potential relevance to the integration of fish farming into small-scale agriculture in Zambia.
In making the assessments required by the study, the examination of the socio-economic aspects of the integration of fish culture into existing farming systems has been treated as a general issue of wider importance than the more specific matter of duck-cum-fish farming in rural areas. Accordingly, the report lays emphasis on identifying what the existing farming systems are and on what small-scale farming in Zambia entails. This is done on the grounds that an assessment of the viability of integrating an additional production system has to be based on as complete as possible an understanding of the potentials and constraints of what already exists.
Table 1 shows the annual volumes and estimated values for fish produced by aquaculture in Zambia between 1984 and 1987. The majority of this has been produced by large-scale commercial farms using a variety of integrated livestock-cum-fish production systems.
| Species | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 |
| Cyprinus carpio | 3 | 9 | 8 | 31 |
| Oreochromis spp. | 31 | 40 | 62 | 71 |
| Oreochromis andersonii | 306 | 314 | 625 | 918 |
| Total | 340 | 363 | 695 | 1020 |
Est. Value ($US) 730 000 907 000 740 000 900 000
SOURCE:
FAO. Aquaculture Production 1984–1987. Statistical Tables. 1989 FAO Fish.Circ., (815)Rev.1:130 p.
Aquaculture production is clearly continuing to expand, mainly through large increases in the production of Oreochromis andersonii, found to be the most suitable species for monoculture in Zambian conditions. Expanding production has followed a series of development efforts by assistance agencies, including the present FAO/Government of Netherlands fish culture project and its predecessors. These efforts were initially aimed at increasing production through large-scale commercial operations. The objectives of the present project imply a change of emphasis towards increasing aquaculture production within the small-scale agricultural sector, with the needs for rural food security playing a more prominent role than in previous development efforts. The development objectives of the present project are described as follows:
“Development of integrated rural aquaculture in Zambia in order to increase fish production for food purposes and generation of employment in rural areas.”
Zambia has one of the highest population growth rates in the world. The country's population in 1963 was 3.5 million; in 1980 it had risen to 5.7 million; the projected figure for 1990 based on current rates of fertility and mortality is 8.1 million; and, for the year 2000, the projected figure is 11.8 million. There has been massive urbanization with population densities in the Copperbelt and Lusaka reaching 40.4 persons/km2 and 31.4 persons/km2 respectively, compared to densities ranging from 2.4/km to 9.4/km2 in the rural provinces.
Rural population is generally distributed unevenly and without concentrations of population in large villages. This uneven and dispersed distribution of population creates serious problems for the provision of social services in these areas. Levels of health and education provision are consequently adversely affected.
According to an International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate made in 1980, the majority of Zambia's poor live in rural areas. Some 60% of all households were estimated by ILO to have incomes below a basic needs level and 85% of these were living in rural areas. A later ILO study highlighted differences in the levels of development between different rural areas with Central, Southern and part of Eastern Provinces being the more developed in terms of resources and facilities. Less developed areas were identified as being Western, North Western, Luapula Provinces, Ndola Rural District and other parts of Eastern Province.
In the less developed areas, there has been significant out-migration of males, leaving high numbers of female-headed households. The majority of subsistence farmers are found in these less developed peripheral zones. A significant factor in determining the level of agricultural development has been identified as closeness to the railway which generally corresponds to closeness to markets and supplies of agricultural inputs, and patterns and systems of agricultural production are obviously affected by this. Hybrid maize production dominates market-related small-scale agriculture, while other crops, including local maize, cassava, millet and sorghum, dominate the more peripherally-located subsistence agriculture.
Conditions in the rural areas of Zambia have also been affected adversely by general recession in the economy. GDP per caput in real terms declined at an average annual rate of 3% between 1977 and 1984, limiting the Government's ability to improve basic infrastructure and services in rural areas. Economic difficulties are continuing with lack of foreign exchange, severe restrictions on imports and high rates of inflation. (The official rate of inflation for 1989 was 59%.) Currently, economic restructuring through the decontrolling of prices is causing major difficulties for consumers.
For the agricultural sector, a major consequence of the economic difficulties has been the effect on the national stockfeed industry. Agricultural development is being inhibited by declining and erratic supplies of good quality stockfeed for livestock, which depend on imports of amino acids and pre-mixes. The result has been that the National Milling Company's annual production of stockfeed has been steadily falling in recent years (Table 2).
| Year | '000 t |
| 1980 | 192 |
| 1981 | 171 |
| 1982 | 147 |
| 1983 | 145 |
| 1984 | 136 |
| 1985 | 144 |
| 1986 | 146 |
| 1987 | 140 |
| 1988 | 130 |
(SOURCE: DANIDA Feasibility Study on Rehabilitation of Maize and Feed Mills in Zambia)
Stockfeed prices have been rising steeply (Table 3) but the remote location of the subsistence farmers has in any case always ment higher-than-normal prices and relatively erratic supplies. Remoteness from the railway therefore results in not only poor access to markets for produce but also in generally more costly and less reliable supplies of manufactured inputs. Prices and supplies of other external inputs such as seed and fertilizer are affected in similar ways to those of stockfeeds.
| Feed | Price: August 1986 (Kwacha/50 kg) | Price: October 1989 (Kwacha/50 kg) |
| Broiler Mash | 46.80 | 309.75 |
| Layers Mash | 35.20 | 278.25 |
| Chicken Mash | 34.20 | 267.75 |
| Growers Mash | 33.80 | 257.25 |
| Breeders Mash | 37.30 | 252.00 |
| Pig Mash | 34.40 | 236.50 |
Finally, rural populations are more likely to be affected by some form of undernourishment. Surveys carried out in parts of the Eastern Province (1980, 1981) estimated that 32–33% of children were malnourished with large percentages of families not growing sufficient food to feed themselves. The Zambia Food Strategy Study and the ILO identified insufficient energy intake rather than the lack of specific nutrients as the major problem, although vitamin A and iron deficiencies were found to be causing anaemia, sickness, lethargy and fatigue. Seasonal patterns of undernourishment were observed with low energy intake in the pre-harvest season and the incidence of measles becoming increasingly severe throughout the rainy season.
The main implications of the above social and economic conditions of Zambia's rural populations are that the rapidly increasing population levels and continuing recession in the economy, with particular effects on food production, will cause increasingly severe living conditions. These are likely to be worse for the rural populations in the peripheral areas. Alleviation of the conditions can come through increased food production; and the supply of food for the most vulnerable group, the subsistence farmers and their families, can be improved only if their special situation in relation to markets and supplies of inputs is fully taken into account. That is, increased food supply for the most vulnerable group can be achieved if low external input development solutions, based on locally available resources rather than costly manufactured products, can be applied.
The general conditions also imply that special or appropriate approaches to development for this group have to be adopted. That is, in addition to difficulties with supply of inputs and access to markets, the lack of provision of social services, such as education and health, and the dispersed distribution of the population require special and appropriate responses from research, extension and training services.
The Government of Zambia's Fourth National Development Plan, to cover the 1989–1993 period, noted that, despite successful testing and introduction of high-yield livestock-cum-fish production systems, the previously set production target of 2 000 t/year was not reached. The cause of the failure to reach this target was identified as being inadequate extension capability to service the development of integrated fish-farming within the small-scale farming sector.
The Government's general economic policies for the period up to 1993 include increased national economic self-reliance, the reduction of existing regional and socio-economic disparities, the improvements of living standards in rural areas and the alleviation of poverty among economically disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Agricultural development is given a high priority, as is the achievement of self-sufficiency in basic staple food supplies.
