8.1 Aquaculture Research and Development
8.2 Irrigation Potential and Development
8.3 Status of the FAO Special Programme for Food Security
8.4 Review of Possible Integrated Systems
8.4.1 Fish farming in irrigated rice schemes
AfDB | African Development Bank |
AGRITEX | Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (Zimbabwe) |
ALCOM | Aquaculture for Local Community Development Programme (FAO) |
APO | Associate Professional Officer (FAO) |
ASIP | Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (World Bank) |
DNAER | Direction nationale de laménagement et de léquipement rural (Mali) |
DNPWM | Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (Zimbabwe) |
DRSS | Department of Research and Special Services (Zimbabwe) |
EDF | European Development Fund |
GOG | Government of Ghana |
GOZ | Government of Zimbabwe |
GRZ/DOF | Government of the Republic of Zambia, Department of Fisheries |
IDR | Institut du Développement Rural (Burkina Faso) |
IER | Institut dEconomie Rurale (Mali) |
IFAD | International Fund for Agricultural Development |
INERA | Institut National de lEnvironnement et de Recherches Agricoles (Burkina Faso) |
JICA | Japanese International Cooperation Agency |
NORAD | Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation |
ONBAH | Office National des Barrages et des Aménagements Hydro-agricoles (Burkina Faso) |
PCV | Peace Corps Volunteers (USAID) |
SAFR | Southern and Eastern Africa Sub-regional FAO Office (FAO) |
SPFS | Special Programme for Food Security (FAO) |
SWB | Small Water Body |
UNDP | United Nations Development Programme |
USAID | United States Agency for International Development |
WB | World Bank |
WRI/ARDEC | Water Research Institute, Aquaculture Research/Development Centre (Ghana) |
Except in Ghana and in Zambia where aquaculture research infrastructure is being completed with external assistance, it is still rather rudimentary in the other three countries. Staff and financial resources are also very limited in most countries, although in Zambia this situation could improve in the near future as a result of the training component of the UNDP aquaculture project. Even in Ghana, aquaculture research will most probably receive increased attention following its integration within the Water Research Institute and the change in Government policy.
Responsible institution(s) and research stations in each of the visited countries are as follows:
Country |
Responsibilitya/ |
Research stationb/ |
Remarks |
Burkina Faso | INERA + IDR | (Bazenga) | Institutional reorganization at national level |
Mali | IER + DNAER | Molodo | World Bank support for reorganization |
Ghana | WRI/ARDEC | Akosombo | Infrastructures to be completed in 1998 |
Zambia | GRZ/DOF | Mwekera (Chilanga) | Infrastructure and support from JICA and UNDP |
Zimbabwe | DNPWM + DRSS | (Henderson) | Very limited resources (staff, infrastructure, finances) |
a/ See List of Acronyms at beginning of this Chapter
b/ In parentheses: station non or partly functional
A summary of the status and constraints of aquaculture development in the countries visited is given in the table below.
In general, government resources (infrastructure, staff, finances) are rather limited, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Zimbabwe. Although some private initiatives exist in Mali (stocking of small reservoirs) and in Ghana, they are particularly developed in Zambia (fish farms and small reservoirs).
Extension services have been reorganized in most countries where the "training and visit" system is applied by polyvalent extensionists (unified system).
In all countries, juvenile fish production cannot cope with the demand. Wild juveniles of tilapias and African catfish are captured from reservoirs, floodplains and rivers by local fishermen mostly to stock small reservoirs.
Annual aquaculture productions are relatively low (80-150 t), except in Ghana and in Zambia, this last country being one of the largest cultured-fish producers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Country |
Aquaculture development |
Extension services |
Juvenile fish productiona/ |
1995 fish prod. (t) |
Burkina Faso | Development quasi nil. Very limited resources. Interest only in SWB and somewhat in integrated aquaculture-irrigation | (Bazéga) Wild |
80b/ |
|
Mali | Renewed interest. Development limited. Very limited resources Some private initiatives | Reorganized Unified System (ASIP) | Kourouma Molodo Sélingué Wild |
100b/ |
Ghana | Renewed interest. Five active GOG farms. Mostly private develop-ment. Lack of trained staff | Reorganized Unified System (ASIP) | Akosombo Privates Wild (GOG farms) |
550 |
Zambia | Fast rate of develop-ment with important assistance (UNDP, USAID, NORAD, WB...). Commercial farms. Limited GRZ resources | Reorganized Unified System (ASIP) Assistance:
|
Mwekera (Chipata) (Chilanga) (GRZ stations) Privates Wild |
4081 |
Zimbabwe | A few commercial farms. Very limited resources | Unified System (AGRITEX) | Privates Wild (GOZ stations) |
150 |
a/ In parentheses, non or partly functional stations
b/ Mostly from culture-based fisheries in small reservoirs
Fisheries enhancement in small water bodies (SWB) through stocking has been and/or is still being carried out in all the visited countries. In this last instance, private initiatives are mostly responsible, either at village level in Mali and Ghana or at farm level in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The fisheries of small storage reservoirs located upstream from irrigation schemes may be enhanced by the following:
During the past five years, the ALCOM Programme has tested and developed, in Zambia and Zimbabwe, methodologies for the rapid evaluation of SWB fishery potential and for community-based enhancement/management of SWB fish resources. Guidelines are now being prepared.
The current situation in the countries visited is as follows:
Country |
Fisheries enhancement in small water bodies |
Burkina Faso | More than 2 000 reservoirs, not all permanent Renewed interest in their fisheries enhancement Very little resources New project for 250 reservoirs under discussion (AfDB/ONBAH) |
Mali | Numerous small reservoirs, floodplain depressions and
earth-borrowing pits, generally seasonal Renewed interest in their fisheries enhancement Private initiatives especially |
Ghana | Numerous small reservoirs and dugouts in northern regions Water Users Associations for their management Dam rehabilitation projects (IFAD, EU...) |
Zambia | Mostly in Eastern and Southern Provinces, where experience with community management exists (ALCOM); private initiatives on large commercial farms |
Zimbabwe | More than 11 000 reservoirs totalling 121 000 ha Many private initiatives on commercial farms AGRITEX/ALCOM active in communal lands for local community management promotion |
Existing past and present experience in integrating aquaculture and irrigation in the visited countries is summarized in the table below.
All types of integration of aquaculture in large irrigation schemes have been tried in Mali a few years ago and further trials have been proposed more recently (Coche and Müller-Fall, 1993). Good experience is also present in Ghana where an integration policy exists for a long time. Even if several proposals have been made in Burkina Faso (Sourou irrigation scheme) in the past, none has been implemented, except for the enhancement of SWB fisheries (EDF Project 1986-91).
As far as informal irrigation in wetlands is concerned, the Zambia SPFS is actively carrying out the most recent trials on small-scale fish farming integration (van der Mheen, 1997).
Existing experience and proposals in integrating aquaculture and irrigationb/
Type of integrationa/ | 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Burkina Faso | (· ) |
· |
· |
- |
· · |
EDF Project (1986-91) |
Mali | FAO |
ON |
FAO · |
FAO · |
ON FAO · |
FAO Privates |
Ghana | WRI |
GOG |
- |
- |
GOG |
GOG Privates |
Zambia | - |
- |
- |
- |
SPFS Privates |
ALCOM/FAO Privates |
Zimbabwe | - |
- |
- |
- |
(· ) |
Government Privates ALCOM/FAO |
Notes | ||||||
a/ 1 Rice-cum-fish 2 Paddy field as pond 3 Irrigation/drainage canals 4 Earth borrowing pits 5 Integrated fish farm/ponds 6 Small irrigation reservoirs (fishery enhancement/management) |
b/ (· ) Proposal under consideration · Past proposal w/o follow-up FAO Past trials by FAO Project ON Past trials by Office du Niger GOG Past trials by Government of Ghana WRI Past trials by Water Research Institute |
For further details on types of integration of aquaculture and irrigation see Section 8.4.
As shown in the table below, surface irrigation with full or partial water control which offers the best possibilities for integrating aquaculture in particular in large-scale irrigation schemes is mostly developed in Mali. Zambia and Zimbabwe have each more than 20000ha available, much more than Burkina Faso and especially Ghana with only about 6000ha. In this last country, the actually irrigated area is only 61 percent of the equipped area, although great efforts are now made to rehabilitate old schemes.
Overhead irrigation
by sprinklers is particularly well developed in Zimbabwe and even in Zambia. Actual tendency is to prefer this irrigation system which uses available water resources much more efficiently. For the same reason, micro-irrigation (drip) is being increasingly used in southern Africa.Wetlands and/or inland bottom valleys are particularly extended in Zambia where these dambos are traditionally irrigated by hand and where the SPFS is actually concentrating its efforts. It has been shown that several possibilities exist to integrate small-scale fish farming in such areas. Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe (as well as Ghana probably) have also relatively extended wetlands used by smallholders. In Mali, such areas are limited to the south western part of the country.
Flood-dependent irrigation is practised in Mali in the Niger River valley over a large area. Results have been disappointing in recent years following the reduced peak flood level. Little potential for integrating aquaculture exists in such irrigation schemes.
Irrigation potential is huge in Ghana and nearly four times greater than the potential in Mali and Zambia, the next countries with good potential. Smallest potential is found in Burkina Faso.
Irrigation in the visited countries (FAO/AGLW, 1995)
Type of irrigation |
Francophone (in ha) |
Anglophone (in ha) |
|||
BKF |
MLI |
GHA |
ZAM |
ZIM |
|
1. Full/partial water control, equipped | |||||
|
11 530 |
78 520 |
5 794 |
28 400 |
21 144 |
|
3 900 |
1 000 |
580 |
17 200 |
87 433 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
800 |
8 000 |
|
15 430 |
78 620 |
6 374 |
46 400 |
116 577 |
|
100 |
- |
61 |
80 |
99 |
2. Wetlands/Inland Bottom Valleys | |||||
|
8 900 |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
21 400 |
3 826 |
(?) |
100 000 |
20 000 |
3. Flood recession cropping | - |
109 023 |
- |
- |
- |
4. Total water-managed | 45 730 |
191 469 |
6 374 |
146 400 |
136 577 |
Potential for irrigation | 164 460 |
560 000 |
1 900 000 |
520 000 |
331 000 |
Full/partial water control, equipped | |||||
|
7 980 |
63 119 |
5 924 |
- |
93 656 |
|
7 450 |
15 501 |
450 |
- |
9 421 |
As of November 1997, the implementation of the pilot phase of the FAO Special Programme for Food Security had reached the following stage:
Zambia | Well ahead; aquaculture component planned by consultant; full time FAO aquaculture specialist on site. |
Burkina Faso | Trials initiated in inland valley bottoms; aquaculture under consideration. |
Mali | Trials not yet initiated; aquaculture involvement still to be decided. |
Zimbabwe | National Programme being finalized. |
Ghana | Initial programmation planned for December 1997 |
Integration of aquaculture into the SPFS irrigation component is well ahead in Zambia where it has been strongly supported by a full time FAO/APO aquaculturist, with technical assistance from a SAFR consultant and ALCOM.
In the other countries, aquaculture is under consideration, but the SPFS has still to get fully underway.
The integration of aquaculture and irrigation may be implemented in various ways, according to the farming system locally used and the type of irrigation scheme present. In addition, such integration, although much less direct, can also take place in small irrigation storage reservoirs (SWB) through the enhancement of its fishery.
Integrated systems which have been tried in the past in Africa, generally on a limited scale, are briefly mentioned in the next sections for information.
In large-scale schemes, water is usually available during the rice production cycle only, and then sometimes not even on a continuous basis. When crop diversification is promoted, as for example in Mali (Office du Niger and Sélingue rice schemes) certain areas are specifically designed for horticultural production. Irrigation water is then available throughout the year which allows the integration of aquaculture easily.
The following integrated systems have been tried:
Water originates from a stream diversion, a large reservoir or a pumping station. It is fed to the irrigated plots through a network of canals (primary, secondary, tertiary...). In such cases, integration of aquaculture can be realized either as described above for the particular case of irrigated paddy fields or as follows:
Several possibilities for small-scale fish farming integration exist which have been well described by H. van der Mheen (1996, 1997) based on his recent surveys in Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The following possibilities have been identified: