FI:TCP/GHA/0051
Field Document
August 1990
T E C H N I C A L C O O P E R A T I O N P R O G R A M M E
GHANA
based on the work of
Ulf N. Wijkstrom (FAO Consultant Economist)
N. MacPherson (FAO Consultant Socio-economist Team Leader)
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 1990
Field Working Paper 1 will review, in the Ghanaian context, the benefits and costs associated with Culture Based Fisheries (CBF). The analysis cannot be based on historical data, as Ghana's experience with culture based fisheries is limited and not documented. It will be based on what the authors are able to infer about the possible characteristics of CBF in Ghana during the 1990's. This means that the exploitation will concern mainly dugouts and dams in Northern Ghana (Northern Region; Upper East and Upper West).
The primary purpose of the dug-outs is to provide water for human consumption and for livestock. This means that any fishing activity which is known to result in muddy waters is forbidden. The mission was also informed that where Guinea-worm is a problem, people are not allowed to step into the waters for fear that this will contribute towards a spread of the disease. In these dugouts some fish is taken out by hook and line, but the main fishing effort is the annual “fish-hunt” which takes place just before the pond dries out, when the fish is concentrated and the water depth is less than a metre.
Thus, it seems quite plausible that the amount of fish taken out of these seasonal dug-outs is actually less than the dug-outs produce, partly because there is a loss of biomass through predation and deteriorating environmental conditions before the fish hunt. The Field Technical Report 1 discusses how the Department of Fisheries should proceed in order to increase fish production in dug-outs while respecting the priorities of water for humans and animals.
Increased fish production in dug-outs will generate three types of benefits: improvements in nutrition, employment and income.
CBF may generate nutritional benefits through an increased supply of fish, rather than by providing a different species composition. From the nutritional point of view it is the increased quantity that is important as, from a nutritional point of view, one fish is almost as good as another.
Improvements in nutrition are important for those who are malnourished or starving. These groups, however, are usually also the ones which generally do not have money to buy fish. One of the attractions of CBF in Northern Ghana is the likelihood that the rural communities, amongst the poorest in Ghana may be able to benefit nutritionally from this activity. The extent to which they do will depend upon the management schemes used to exploit the fish populations in the dug-outs.
The mission's visits to dug-outs and dams and its discussions with informed individuals indicate that the fish now regularly taken out of these water bodies contribute to the diets of the surrounding communities. However, here as elsewhere in Ghana, local women preserve and trade in fish. Part of the fish is taken to larger village markets in fresh or cured form. The reason given is that price generally is higher in larger markets.
It is the mission's belief that this pattern of fish distribution will remain in operation after an improvement of the management and increase in overall production for dug-outs. Thus, although a culture based fisheries programme will contribute to an increase in fish consumption, the benefited consumers will not only be located in the rural villages.
The culture based fisheries will create some opportunities for remunerative work at the village level. However, the magnitude will be modest. While the scale of the opportunity can be assessed, its distribution amongst village inhabitants will depend, largely, on the management of the resulting fishery. This is likely to differ from one water body to the next.
The scale of the opportunity can be gauged as follows. The typical water area, at maximum surface, is somewhere between half a hectare and two hectares (see Field Technical Report 1). Taking the latter as an example, and assuming what is probably the maximum attainable fish production, i.e. a productivity of half a ton/ha, the total production would be about one ton. A full- time fresh-water, lake or river fisherman can be expected to produce at least as much in a year. Thus, the culture based fishery programme may create the equivalent of half a year's employment for a professional fisherman. In addition, the yearly catch of two fishermen generates a year's work for one “fish-mammie”. Thus, a successful CBF programme in a 2 ha dug-out will generate an increment in employment of somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0 man-years of productive work in fishing, fish processing and distribution activities. In actual fact, of course, what will happen is - and this is positive - that the employment and resulting income will be spread as a small increment amongst a large number of individuals, many of whom may be children.
There are at least two ways to project the income-earning potential of the culture based fishery operation: (i) projecting the average daily income and the amount of work involved, and (ii) projecting the value of the output.
The value of one metric ton of fish, when sold to the consumer in cured form will be about C. 300.000 in the major rural and urban centres of Ghana. Given the rather low incomes of the rural population in the northern part of the country and the fact that part of the fish will be consumed fresh, the average value is placed at C 250 per kg, or C. 250.000 for one ton.
In the rural areas concerned, C. 500 is a normal day's pay (including food) for a day's work in the fields. The day then starts in the morning (7 to 8) and ends shortly after mid-day. For many, it means work seven days a week. Thus, a full year's work would be evaluated at between C. 150.000 and C. 180 000.
There are two categories of costs associated with culture based fisheries: (i) those incurred by the public sector or other organizations involved in stocking and management of the fishery on the concerned water body; and (ii) the costs incurred by fishermen and women involved in processing, transporting and retailing of the fish.
The public sector expenditure can be broken down into three groups: (i) pre-stocking; (ii) stocking, and, (iii) management of the fishery.
The “pre-stocking” expenditures are those that are incurred for identifying the natural fauna and its degree of exploitation. It will involve transport, fishing gears and personnel costs. While the latter, particularly per-diem, may cause bureaucratic difficulties, it is above all the expense for transport which may become important. While the direct expenditures on fuel and perdiem may be rather small per day - less than C. 10.000 - the total cost of transport (including depreciation and maintenance of vehicles) is much larger, probably double. Thus, detailed planning is required before this work is carried out.
The cost of “stocking” will be a function of the cost of obtaining fingerlings and the cost of transport. The cost of fingerlings in turn depends on species and on how they are obtained. The fingerlings could be required at two periods of the year; the onset of the rainy season (April) for seasonal dugouts, and at the end of the rainy season (August/September) for perennial ones.
The basic alternatives for stocking will be to use fingerlings or brood stock. By using fingerlings time is gained (that is the biomass can be expected to increase more rapidly than if the fish first have to reproduce) but the cost is increased. The fingerlings either must be fished, (and probably maintained in ponds or pens, waiting for the moment to be stocked, as not all fingerlings can be fished when required), or produced in hatcheries. Given the capital cost of hatcheries for clarias and of fingerling production facilities for tilapia and given the high interest rates (25 to 30 % per year), the cost of hatchery produced fry is high. Estimates of the cost of producing, commercially, tilapia fingerlings indicate a cost of about C. 5 to C. 6 cedis per fingerling ex the production facility (see Field Working Paper 2) and about C. 8 to C. 10 for hatchery produced Clarias gariepinis. Adding C. 3/fingerling for transport costs for an average distance of 100 kms (see Field Working Paper 5) will thus bring the cost at the dug-out site to C. 8 to C. 9 for tilapia fingerlings and C. 11 to C. 13 for fingerlings of Clarias. These costs are high, as it implies a cost of about C. 80.000 to C. 100.000 for the stocking of a dug-out with a 9 to 1 mixture of tilapia and clarias at the rate of 1 fingerling per 2 metre sq.. Thus, alternatives should be explored.
One alternative would be to buy fingerlings from fishermen. The price would have to be higher than the fresh fish price for tilapia at landing sites. At the time of the mission's visit the price was about C. 200 per kg. In order to obtain live tilapia of the 5 to 15 gr category, the price would have to be drastically increased. At a price of C. 600 per kg, and an average fingerling weight of 10 grams, the price in effect would be C. 6 per fish, thus no saving would be achieved compared to tilapia from fingerling production facilities. In fact, there would be additional disadvantages as transport and subsequent storage would be needed, in addition to an effort at convincing fishermen to supply live fingerlings. Fish caught in gill-nets or by cast nets are landed either dead or close to dead. It would probably be necessary to make special arrangements with cast-net fishermen in order to obtain healthy fingerlings. Such arrangements would be costly as they would mean that a representative buyer, with the facilities for holding the fish (a cage in the reservoir) would have to be present to verify species and condition of the fish.
Thus, for this approach to be a viable alternative, fingerlings should not be bought at much more than C. 3 to C. 4 each, which is a price that may not attract fishermen.
Given the cost of obtaining tilapia fingerlings, either through fishing or from hatcheries, it will be cheaper to introduce brood stock. That should be the preferred alternative for stocking perennial dug-outs. Although it will take half a year before serious fishing can start, the savings would seem to justify the delay in fishing. However, the problem with this approach is that the brood stock could be fished out by uncontrolled fishing by children or adults.
The previous analysis demonstrates: (i) that it is economically interesting for the private individual to participate in both fishing and processing/marketing of fish produced in dug-outs; and, (ii) that the policy decision about the extent to which this activity should be promoted hinges on the the public costs required to make the fishery possible. The following is a cost benefit analysis for annual stocking of a dug-out that is seasonal.
Typical stocking of a 2 hectare (maximum surface) dug-out might be 1 fingerling per 2/m2, and a species combination of 9 Oreochromis niloticus for 1 Clarias gariepinis. Stocking would be initiated in April/May and be undertaken on two to three occasions as water would continue to assemble. Continuous, but controlled, fishing would be permitted from September to mid-January. Initially the fishery would be mainly for tilapia, and the catfish will continue to feed on tilapia fry. Survival for tilapia has been placed at 70 % and that of catfish at 80%. This presupposes that no crocodiles are present. However, this is a safe assumption as crocodiles are not normally present in seasonal dug-outs.
After aproximately five months, when the fishery for tilapia starts, they should have reached and average weight of 100 grams. At the end of the season, the males will have reached 180 grams and the females 120. Thus, over the season the average weight can be placed at a low 120 gr. The Clarias, which grow faster than the tilapia, will have reached about 200 grams after five months and, by late January, will have reached an average of 350 grams. The average weight for the fishery has been placed at 300 grams, as the fishery for Clarias will not start until November and then be carried out with hook and line.
The projected harvest will be about 630 kgs of tilapia and about 240 kgs of Clarias - i.e. a total production of about 870 kgs. The stocking will have cost Cedis 94.000. This should be compared with a production which, at the consumer level, will be worth about Cedis 217 500. Thus, it seems to be an activity worth undertaking.
The review of the dug-outs present in Northern Ghana indicates that a policy aiming to develop the fisheries in seasonal, runoff fed dug-outs would seem to have a chance of success. However, although the analysis has not dwelt on the issue of size, it should be apparent that many of the associated public costs (e.g. identification, classification, training of local fishery supervisors, introduction of improved fishing techniques) are not related to the size of the dug-out but are fixed according to the number of dug-outs to be stocked. Thus, the stocking policy would have to establish a lowest (maximum) size for dug-outs to be integrated in the scheme. It seems evident that isolated dug-outs less than two hectares in size should not be included in an initial development programme.
