Fish Farming
Uganda produces up to 15 000 tons of fish from aquaculture, including production from small-scale fish farmers, emerging commercial fish farmers and stocked community water reservoirs and minor lakes. There are an estimated 20,000 ponds throughout the country with an average surface area of 500 m² per fish pond.
In Uganda, the aquaculture enterprise is still in its take off stages despite it being practiced even in pre-colonial times. This has been mainly due to the fish from natural water bodies like lakes, streams and rivers being sufficient for the fish eating populations.
However, due to the recent increase in population and high upshot of fish processing plants for export, the natural stocks have dwindled to alarming levels in that, meeting the domestic demand alone is going to be a problem without providing alternative sources of fish.
Aquaculture therefore presents the major alternative to natural water bodies in as far as fish production is concerned. Uganda is widely covered by free flowing water that can be utilized for aquaculture production and even the large water bodies like lakes and rivers can be utilized for fish cage establishments.
Fish technologies provided by NAADS
Under NAADS, a number of districts have come up with requests to be supported in terms of provision of inputs for support under the aquaculture enterprise. The support is in form of fish fingerings and start-up fish feeds.
However, being at takeoff and since a living organism is to be reared in a controlled environment, a number of factors have to be fulfilled by an intending fish farmer. These factors can be categorized as those needed for the successful growth of a fish and institutional requirements for the success of the program.
Selection Criteria and Technical Requirements
In order for the fish farming projects to succeed, it is important to undertake proper selection of farmers/ beneficiaries. There are 3 major requirements for the beneficiary pond suitability for fish farming as described below:
- Water availability:
Good sites should have good sources of water visible like streams, springs available at least throughout the year in because fish lives and does everything in water. It is the most critical factor to consider.
- Nature of soil:
Soils are important in that; they hold the water that fish live in. the soils to consider are those that are a mixture of clay-loam. Pure clay cracks during hot weather and is very minimal in nutrients hence it should not be considered. Sandy soil is not desirable because water easily percolates through and hence a lot of water is lost. Areas with sandy soils and extremely clay soils should be therefore avoided.
- Size and shape of the pond:
For commercialization of the enterprise, ponds need to be at least more than 300m2. The ponds must be rectangular for easy management, with a gentle slope for easy drainage, dykes must be well compacted and with a slope at least of 2:1. The minimum water depth should be 1M at the outlet and 0.8M at the inlet. Inlet and outlet pipes must be fitted well. The inlet and outlet pipes should be well screened.
Identification of potential beneficiaries
The selection and verification exercise is conducted by technical teams from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), NAADS, OWC together with the beneficiary district local governments.