Part I: Aquaculture Development and Research Needs in sub-Saharan Africa (contd.)

3.2 Aquaculture Research Priorities

As done earlier for the identification of the development priorities (see above), short and medium-term aquaculture research priorities have been identified in the national studies. These priorities are assembled on a regional basis in Annexes 23 to 27.

3.2.1 Identification of the priorities

Research priorities have been mostly identified either in general meetings/working groups (5/12 countries) or by the author himself without official endorsement (4/12 countries).

3.2.2 Priority research subjects

The identified priorities have been summarized and regrouped by subjects and regions, as presented in Table 18.

Priorities consist mainly in biotechnological subjects such as propagation, genetics, nutrition, biology, culture systems, fertilization and feeds/feeding.

Non-biotechnological subjects pertain to education/training of senior researchers, extension packages, socio-economics and equipment. The establishment of research facilities is also included.

3.2.3 Type of priorities

Identified priorities are nearly equally divided into short-term and medium-term aquaculture research.

3.2.4 Implementation responsibility

The responsibility for implementing the identified research priorities generally rests with either the Research Institute which will carry out the research or the Ministry responsible for aquaculture development in the country.

3.2.5 Requested assistance for priorities implementation

For the implementation of the 57 priority programmes listed in Annexes 23 to 27, two types of possible assistance have been envisaged (Table 19):

• financial assistance, requested by all countries for all programmes, except one in Nigeria;
• technical assistance, requested by all countries except Cameroon for 63 per cent of the programmes.

Very few estimates of the financial resources required for the implementation of each priority programme have been provided by the authors. Exceptions are Cameroon, Congo and Rwanda.

3.2.6 Relative importance of the priorities

The relative importance of these research priorities is ranked in Table 20.

Major identified research priorities for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole are as follows:

All the top research priorities, endorsed by at least one third of the countries reviewed, are biotechnological in nature.

Table 18. Aquaculture research priorities - General summary

Table 19. Kind of assistance requested for identified priority research programmes

Table 20. Ranking of aquaculture research priorities for sub-Saharan Africa

3.3 Personal Comments and Considerations

3.3.1 Development priorities

1. Identification and prioritization

   The lack of regular development planning exercises in most countries has resulted in a biased appreciation of the development priorities, since most authors of the national review are expressing their personal opinion as aquaculturists. There is therefore a basic need for rigorous planning exercises to allow in the future a clearer focus on development priorities and their implementation, as well as a more judicious allocation of available public sector resources.

2. Credit for small-scale farmers

   The need for credit schemes for small-scale aquaculture was ranked very high in the national studies. But, on the basis of the numerous and rather negative past experiences, it may be forecasted that the commercial banking community will remain reticent to provide such small-scale credit in the near future. Therefore, this development priority is unlikely to be resolved in the short to medium term, as proposed in the national studies.

3. Development priorities relating to extension services, administrative collaboration and coordination, and national aquaculture development planning should be achieved mainly by development rather than research activities.

3.3.2 Research priorities

1. The lack of planning exercises (as mentioned above) has also resulted in an incomplete correspondence between the identified development constraints and the research priorities which could alleviate these constraints. Additional research priorities should therefore be considered as proposed below.

2. Credit for commercial aquaculture

   Credit through commercial banks appears to be available for semi-commercial and commercial forms of aquaculture. But the lack of information about sound economic data and realistic financial viability of the proposed projects may hamper the granting of loans. Research on such economic subjects however is rather site-specific. Therefore, it should not require joint efforts at regional level.

3. Additional research priorities

   Aquaculture equipment

   Research on specialized, simple equipment for aquaculture, well adapted to African conditions and local resources should be considered separately for each aquaculture subject in particular, such as juvenile production/distribution, supplementary feed preparation/distribution, fish harvesting/grading/storing and pond construction/maintenance.

   Small water body fisheries enhancement

   Small man-made water reservoirs, known as small water bodies, are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. They are built primarily for domestic use, cattle watering, and irrigation. Fisheries is always a secondary use but can nevertheless produce important amounts of fish for local consumption and sale. Until now, little attention has been paid to the enhancement and management of such small scale fisheries.

   Research could contribute to a better understanding of small water body fisheries potential and produce techniques for production enhancement through improved management and aquaculture techniques.

   Aquaculture in irrigation schemes

   Most existing large irrigation schemes have been established for the monoculture of specific crops such as rice, cotton or sugar cane. Recently, it has proved necessary to diversify production in these irrigation schemes by introducing cash crops such as vegetable, fruit and small animal husbandry.

   Fish farming could greatly contribute to such diversification policy. In addition, it could contribute to waste and by-products utilization through well adapted organic fertilization and feeding strategies. It could also promote the multiple use of available irrigation water in rather dry areas, while producing locally cheap animal proteins together with additional cash incomes.

   Such research programme would be closely related to other programmes focused on organic fertilization, fish feeds, integrated systems and socio-economics.

   Marine aquaculture

   Very little research is being carried out in sub-Saharan Africa on marine aquaculture systems, even in the presence of vast coastal areas. Recently, some interest has been shown for the semi-intensive production of shrimp in earthen ponds, as a means to obtain foreign exchange through exports. Interest has also been repeatedly shown for oyster and seaweed production. Unfortunately, the exploitation of these systems has rarely been successful until now, due mostly to the absence of sound data on suitable sites, markets and technologies within the African context.

   It is felt that a wide data base should be established through applied research encompassing all aspects related to coastal aquaculture development, including socio-economics

   Aquaculture in temperate areas

   Several areas of sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. East Africa Region and part of the Southern Region) are characterized by relatively cool temperatures prevailing for long periods, due to either higher altitude and/or higher latitude.

   Under these temperate conditions, tropical fish species such as tilapias and African catfish may stop reproducing (usually as water temperature drops below 20–22°C), feeding and growing, which reduces considerably their potential as aquaculture species, particularly for the small-scale commercial sector.

   In Rwanda research has shown that it is nevertheless still possible to economically farm selected strains of such species as long as adequate pond management practices are applied (Hanson, 1988). In other regions of Africa, preference has been given to exotic species (e.g. common carp in Madagascar) better adapted to temperate waters. On the contrary, in Malawi, research concentrates on local species only. In Zambia on the other hand, the choice between the exotic Nile tilapia and the local tilapia (O. andersonii) as the best aquaculture species is still under discussion.

   It is inevitable that these questions will remain crucial for the countries concerned. They should be addressed as part of the technological research priorities identified above.

   Aquaculture information centres

   As already stressed earlier (see Section 2.6.6), documentation of past and present aquaculture research and access to aquaculture information are inadequate, both in francophone and anglophone Africa. This greatly limits the scope, quality and utility of aquaculture research activities, all research programmes depending on access to and dissemination of information. In particular, the latter can help reinforce the coordination/collaboration between the development and the research sectors, identified as weak in most countries (see Part I, Sections 2.3 and 2.4). Research results with immediate practical applications can, through information centres, be made available to technicians and extensionists, be interpreted by them and transferred to fish farmers.

   Such needs exist for the two main official languages of sub-Saharan Africa. It is felt that geographically separate but closely linked anglophone and francophone centres would be much more efficient than a unique centre at collecting, storing and disseminating aquaculture information both on a regional and a continental bases.