Aqua 2018 – Africa
There is a “continuum
between a livelihood based around fisheries and one that has moved towards aquaculture
”
consolidation yet? Maybe this is coming and the number of farms will drop, as happened in Asia with the consolidation of the pangasius industry. In several other African countries, larger farms are now beginning to thrive, such as Dominion and Victory Farms in Kenya, Lake Harvest in Zimbabwe, Yalelo in Zambia, and Tropo Farms in Ghana. But, said Leschen, we mustn’t forget the middle scale, referred to as the missing middle because it’s often overlooked. Why are there very few examples of people moving from the small scale into this scale, and what are the mechanisms and the research that would help them? Prof Little agreed that the missing middle would be an area of growth, especially if Africa follows the Asian model. African fish farmers cannot move from one exBank, were very much involved too, and set up Asian models in Africa in the treme to another overnight – it is a young industry 70s and 80s. – but once the middle is more developed, like the These were often integrated systems, with crops and livestock, and their mes- poultry sector, then the smallholders can start to sage was then, as now, that fish farming was a route out of poverty for lower break in. income, rural Africans. Was the money invested in research well spent, asked Companies’ research needs depended on their Leschen. scale – a shrimp farm in Madagascar, for instance, Since the 90s and 2000s, Nigeria has become the lighthouse, along with wanted a good supply of quality seed and better Egypt, for aquaculture in Africa. It’s a very interesting model for development infrastructure, but as a large scale enterprise it has based on one species –catfish, said Leschen, who wondered again what role in-house capacity to invest in the business. research had played in that development. And in Egypt, WorldFish helped farmers reduce While Egypt and Nigeria had developed aquaculture on a huge scale, there their feed conversion rates, and become more were still no very big producers. Why hasn’t there been any salmon style profitable, by feeding fish more efficiently, said the
Tilapia farmer invests in training VICTORY Farms in Kenya, a fast expanding tilapia operation on Lake Victoria, is a ‘playground for research’, with visiting and local students welcomed, said the company’s sustainability director Katrina ole-MoiYoi. The farm is the largest aquaculture producer in Kenya, despite just celebrating its second anniversary, and sells most of its fish on the domestic market, competing with cheap Chinese imports. Ole-MoiYoi said the region should be a net producer of fish and its lakes could produce 20 per cent of the global tilapia market, yet Africa is the only place where per capita fish consumption is expected to decline. Victory Farms is playing its part in addressing that challenge, and last year it provided 340,000 high protein meals, many of them to Kibera, Africa’s largest slum and home to the area’s poorest inhabitants. Victory Farms has its own hatchery, with capacity expandable to 10,000 tonnes, plus a 50-acre network of ponds and 180 cages on the lake. It employs 225, mainly local, people, in its low tech, labour intensive operation. It has brought the market to the villages by selling fish through 2,000 ‘market women’ , who trade in whole fish from table tops and can differentiate between locally produced and imported Chinese tilapia. There is a strong preference for small fish of 200-300g; as ole-MoiYoi pointed out, it’s not profitable for farmers to rear 600g fish because of the high cost of feeding it. Victory Farms has a graduate programme for Kenyan students and is trying to raise funds to build a training centre. It has also just launched the VF Aqua Scholars programme, which will provide tuition support for local primary/secondary students who demonstrate outstanding potential and financial need. The company was set up by American Joseph Rehmann (Fish Farmer, July 2018), who had been at Ghana’s Tropo Farms, and it has Kenyan investors, and a staff ownership programme. It has also just
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secured its first international investment, said ole-MoiYoi. Victory Farms has been talking to two feed companies about building a commercial mill in Kenya. A 50,000 tonne feed mill in the area would create work for 100,000 farmers, said ole-MoiYoi. Some of the farm’s research priorities include: a selective breeding programme, early stage nutrition, a floating hatchery, Lake Victoria disease scoping, novel cage designs (currently being undertaken by AKVA), drones to predict water quality in the ponds, carbon negative aeration, internet of things technology, waste conversion to energy, and alternatives to plastic packaging. Above: Victory Farms’ Joseph Rehmann with one of the new scholars
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06/09/2018 15:25:10