CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION

LIST OF ACRONYMS

1.1 Origin, Organization and Objectives of the Mission

1.2 FAO Special Programme for Food Security

1.3 Positive Aspects of Aquaculture-Irrigation Integration

1.4 Constraints to Aquaculture-Irrigation Integration

1.5 Small-water Body Fisheries in Africa

1.1 Origin, Organization and Objectives of the Mission

As a follow-up to the Study on International Fisheries Research (SIFR, 1989-91), FAO, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa and the European Union, launched in 1992 a regional study on aquaculture development and research in sub-Saharan Africa.

The resulting synthesis of the information presented in 12 national reviews on development and research needs provided the basis for proposing an indicative Action Plan for Aquaculture Research in sub-Saharan Africa (Coche, Haight and Vincke, 1994; Coche, 1994).

Eight priority research programmes were identified among which "Aquaculture in irrigation schemes" and "Small water body fisheries enhancement", to be supported by an Aquatic Systems Information Network (Coche and Collins, 1997).

Since 1995, the FAO Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS, Section 1.2) is gradually being implemented in several African countries. It usually includes an irrigation component into which small-scale aquaculture can be integrated successfully.

In July 1997, a seminar on the "Contribution of Fisheries in Man-made Lakes and Irrigation Dams to Food Security in the Sahelian Zone" was organized by the FAO Regional Office for Africa within the framework of the Sahel sub-committee of the Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa (CIFA). Among its recommendations to Member Governments, the seminar stressed that:

• there should be an increase in the number of dams to harvest available water resources;
• reservoir management should include watershed management for its strategies to be successful;
• when designing/planning any new dam, fisheries aspects should be considered from the onset;
• inter-regional networking should be initiated to exchange information and avoid duplication of efforts;
• aquacultural development should focus on improved management of and output from reservoirs through stocking and improved harvesting techniques.

The seminar also recommended that FAO should facilitate inter-regional networking and information exchange.

As follow-up to these activities and using the Partnership Programme Scheme, the Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service of the FAO Fisheries Department organized in October 1997 an identification mission in sub-Saharan Africa with the following objectives:

• to visit some of the existing research institutions previously identified as potential contributors to a research network on the integration of aquaculture and irrigation, including fisheries enhancement in small irrigation reservoirs;
• to evaluate the resources available in each of these institutions to contribute to such a network;
• to ascertain existing interest and willingness to do so;
• to briefly review the status of aquaculture and irrigation development in each country visited;
• to identify possible ways for integration and related constraints;
• to identify potential founder-members of this new research network;
• to identify a possible way for the initial establishment of such a multidisciplinary network at sub-Saharan African level.

Before being fielded, the mission was briefed on aquaculture, irrigation and SPFS subjects in FAO Headquarters, Rome, as follows:

• Agriculture Department

• Land and Water Development Division,

• Kandiah, A. (Zimbabwe)
• Faures, J.-M. (Burkina Faso)
• Florin, R. (Mali)
• Smith, M. (Ghana, Zambia)

• Animal Production and Health Division,

• Branckaert, R.D.S. (francophone Africa)

• Technical Cooperation Department

• Investment Centre Division (TCI)

• Strebelle, J. (Mali)
• Clement, D. (SPFS/Mali)

• Fisheries Department

• Fishery Resources Division,

• Pedini, M. (Aquaculture and overall coordination of the mission)

The identification mission visited various institutions in Sahelian, western and southern Africa between 22 October and 21 November 1997, as follows:

• from 22 to 27 October, Ghana;
• from 29 October to 4 November, Burkina Faso;
• from 5 to 12 November, Mali;
• from 13 to 17 November, Zambia;
• from 18 to 21 November, Zimbabwe.

A more detailed schedule of the mission together with names of institutions/projects visited are provided as an Annex.

Each country visited is the subject of a separate Chapter (Chapters 2 to 6) where a list of persons met, generalities about aquaculture and irrigation, details about visited institutions/projects (research or development oriented) and literature consulted, are successively given.

The Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) was launched by FAO in September 1994. Its objectives are:

• to sustainably increase food production and productivity through widespread dissemination of improved technologies and management practices in areas with high potential;
• to create an economic and social environment conducive to food production.

SPFS is guided by the following basic principles:

• national ownership, through direct government involvement;
• focus on areas and foods with a high potential, primarily staple food crops (cereals, roots, tubers), with possible integration of others, such as vegetables, poultry, livestock and fish;
• participatory approach;
• environmental awareness/sensitivity;
• regard for women’s role, particularly important in food crop production.

SPFS strategy includes:

• food security through irrigation and intensification;
• diversification (e.g., aquaculture).

Implementation is in two phases:

• a pilot phase including on-farm trials and demonstrations of improved technologies and management practices, full participation of the local community in their evaluation and in the identification of adoption constraints/practical ways to remove them, as well as water management (conservation and storage to ensure a reliable water supply);
• an expansion phase.

The SPFS irrigation component should develop and demonstrate appropriate irrigation technologies which can be effectively sustained by small-scale farmers.

The SPFS aquaculture component should be preferably fully integrated with the irrigation component and, as far as possible, with the animal husbandry component if present.

The integration of aquaculture and irrigation can result, for the smallholder farmer in particular, in a number of varied benefits.

From a practical point of view, the presence of a water storage facility:

• improves domestic water use (closer supply, time saving);
• allows livestock watering;
• allows crop irrigation;
• allows fish farming.

From the social point of view, integrated fish farming:

• improves the household nutritional situation; animal proteins are often lacking in the diet of smallholders, in particular for growing children and child-bearing or breast-feeding women;
• provides fish which can be easily harvested, as required by the household;
• directly improves household food security; farmers with access to irrigation and producing a variety of cash crops generally sell a great part of their horticultural crops and use the largest part of their fish production for home consumption (van der Mheen, 1996);
• contributes to production diversification and risk avoidance.

From the economical point of view, integrated fish farming:

• requires a small investment, mostly for juvenile fish if they are not on-farm produced;
• produces fresh fish, usually a high-value cash crop;
• gives the opportunity for additional income;
• can give fast returns on investment if the production cycle is kept relatively short;
• may be economically more profitable than irrigated crop farming, as observed in southern Africa (van der Mheen, 1996);
• may provide a way to produce a positive economic return in irrigation networks where soil salinization has reduced economic returns of crops below acceptable levels;
• produces a crop with greater marketing flexibility than most other crops, fish being easily stored alive in ponds for as long as necessary.

From the irrigation point of view, integrated pond fish farming:

• optimizes the use of water, its consumption being limited to evaporation and seepage losses from reduced surfaces;
• may allow an irrigation schedule much more flexible and better adapted to the real needs of the crop if irrigation water is obtained from an individual storage pond;
• may allow farmers to use an improved irrigation system, such as overhead or micro-irrigation, if irrigation water is stored at a higher elevation in a pond;
• may assist in regulating periodic excessive water flow or in greatly reducing losses of unused water through intermediate pond storage;
• in irrigation schemes where salt accumulation reduces crop production, fish farming can assist in rehabilitating salinized areas within a few years and on an economical basis;
• is adopted by farmers used to irrigation practices more easily than by dryland farmers as demonstrated in Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania (van der Mheen, 1996).

From the farming system point of view, integrated fish farming:

• improves the use of on-farm resources, such as water, inputs and labour;
• allows a more effective recycling of the farm/garden by-products and wastes;
• enhances the overall management and production of smallholder farms;
• contributes to an increased sustainability.

Integration of aquaculture and irrigation is not always feasible and numerous previous attempts have failed for not taking into consideration the following:

• it is possible only if there is a reliable source of water and suitable soils;
• it should be socially acceptable to the farmer concerned;
• it does not interfere with the existing irrigation system;
• it does not excessively compete with the existing elements of the farming system for scarce land and/or water, or for on-farm produced organic wastes and by-products preferably allocated to agricultural crops and animal husbandry respectively (van der Mheen, 1997).

In the context of sub-Saharan Africa, small-water bodies (SWB) are generally defined as small man-made impoundments of water built primarily for domestic use, livestock watering, and/or irrigation, where fish production is usually a secondary use, but can nevertheless produce an important amount of fish for consumption and sale by the local community. They are particularly numerous in northern and southern subtropical African countries.

SWB fisheries differ significantly from natural lake fisheries and are susceptible to enhancement (Section 8.1.3). Seasonally variable water levels and the resulting magnification of environmental variation, artificial assemblages of mainly riverine fish species in a lacustrine environment, and relatively small surface areas are all characteristics which could be exploited through improved management and aquaculture techniques to increase fish production.

Management and enhancement of small water body fisheries has been intensively studied at the SIDA/Belgium/FAO Programme on "Aquatic Resources Management for Local Communities" (Chapter 6, Section 4.1).