Field Working Paper 11
Overview of the results of the fish farm survey

based on the work of

J.M. Kapetsky (FAO Senior Fishery Resources Officer)
M.M.J. Vincke (FAO Senior Aquaculturist)

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 1990

21. Farm Characteristics

In all, survey information was obtained on 648 operating fish farms.

Fish farms are found in 8 of the 10 regions and in 62 of the 110 districts. Operational pond surface areas (ha) by region are as follows:

At least 33.6 ha numbering 394 ponds have been abandoned over the years, a failure rate of 23% area-wise.

Western Region possesses the largest number of farms (Table 1), but from Table 2 it can be seen that these are mainly very small farms of 1 are or less, “backyard fish farms”. In some regions data on “backyard” ponds were reported, but in others, such as Greater Accra, the many backyard ponds in the City of Accra were not listed in the results of the current survey. Looking at the country as a whole, about 31% of the farms have a surface area of 1 are or less and 69% of the farms have a pond area of 5 ares or less. Among larger farms, a surface area of 20 ares is most common (Fig. 1). However, only 4% of the farms are larger than 1 ha and the maximum size is 6 ha.

I. There are 1480 operational ponds. Nearly 57% of the farms have only one pond, 20% have only two ponds and the remainder, 23% have three or more ponds (Fig. 2; Table 2).

In conclusion, although the results are not complete, it can be said that most fish farms are quite small and consist only of one pond. Many are of the backyard type. There has been a failure rate of about 23% area-wise.

Table 1. Frequency distribution of the pond area (ares) of fish farms by region and in total.

Table 2. Frequency distribution of the number of ponds per fish farm for each region and in total.

Areas of Fish Farms

All Regions

Figure 1

Number of Ponds per Fish Farm

All Regions

Figure 2