Assessment of Potentials and Determinants of Small Holder Commercialization of Fish in South West and West Shoa of Ethiopia
Assessment of Potentials and Determinants of Small Holder Commercialization of Fish in South West and West Shoa of Ethiopia
Assessment of Potentials and Determinants of Small Holder Commercialization of Fish in South West and West Shoa of Ethiopia
supply and income for farm households .It is also the fastest growing form of food production
and plays vital role in helping to meet the increasing demand for aquatic products
worldwide there by contributing to food security and the growth of national GDP (FAO,
2011). Due to the general perception of aquaculture as low productivity and backward sector,
it has been rarely considered as a possible entry point in poverty reduction and rural
development planning.
improve smallholders’ livelihood and nutrition status of the farming community. Despite the
an agricultural sector could not significantly contribute to country’s economy. Since fish is
good source of protein for the family, it can alleviate protein deficiency and enables healthy
growth in children and fosters better health and less disease in the family. Smallholder
farmers in the study area have both land and water throughout the year which is very basic
and common in fish farming enterprise. However, it suffers some constraints such as
limitations in accessibility of full technology package and farm inputs such as formulated fish
feed.
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Existing aquaculture technologies that has been adapted and disseminated by National
fisheries and aquatic life research center includes improved fish strains, formulated fish feed,
improved fishing gear and fish culture techniques such as cage culture and poly culture.
Some of the technologies like fish feed and fishing gear are not fully accessible to fish
farmers’. It is therefore essential that fish farming ponds at farmers backyard need to be
assessed for their production history, present status and potentials. Thus the focus of this
study is to generate information on the status of the small holder fish farming in the area and
The information will be used to promote market oriented fish farming system, enable
smallholder farmers to access markets and adopt more productive and sustainable fish
farming practices.
Study Area
The assessment study was carried out in South West and West Showa of Oromia region. South
West Showa includes Wonchi woreda, around Woliso and Bantu towns, Becho, Dawo & Tole
mean elevation of 2210 m (high altitude rainfall regime) with mean temprature 20 0C. West
Showa includes Ilu Gelan (Ijaji), Chelia (Gedo) and Tibbe (Bako). The area is also lies
(mid altitude rainfall regime) with the mean temprature of 28 oC. Basically farmers in this area
are crop and livestock producers, crop production contributes majority of the household
income source.
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Sampling procedures
A purposive sampling procedure was used to select two zones in Oromia region where pond-
based fish farming is predominantly introduced and practiced. Depending on the availability
fish farmers, two zones of the region were surveyed in which a total of 34 households were
selected purposively.
A household survey was conducted and heads of the households were the main respondents.
Face to face interviews of the selected farmers were conducted using structured
questionnaires and information from personal observation was also recorded. The
fish and pond management practices. Also, the fish ponds of fish farmers were observed
visually and the physical conditions and water quality were judged by the relevant
researchers.
Data analysis
Data analysis was conducted with the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS-16)
computer programs, used to generate descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage and
frequency.
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RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Most of the household heads were male (94.3%) and the rest (5.7%) were female headed
Most fish ponds were owned by male headed households 94.3%, few females who own fish
ponds are widowed or divorced. Average age in the area was found to be 29.5 years and
average household family size was found 6.46. Out of the total number fish farmers, 76.5%
had at least one pond and 23.5% own two to five ponds with mean size of pond 121m 2 which
is found at their backyard. According to FAO (2012), most small-scale farmers own small
ponds of an average size of 150 m 2. Ponds were stocked with O. niloticus in 2008/9, where
fingerling was obtained from NFALRC as this was the institute who introduced Home yard
aquaculture these areas. Some farmers who started fish farming lately reported that their
fingerling sources were the early engaged farmers at affordable price. Up to 50% of the
farmers depended on diverted river water and other 50% use subsurface spring water which is
O.niloticus
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Stream 16 47.1
Seasonal 6 17.6
Household
consumption 27 79.4
left-over
Fish feed
As indicated in Table 1, most of the respondents use mill dust (82.4%) due to availability and
low cost. In contrast, protein rich formulated feeds from various agro industrial by products
such as such as fish meal, oil cakes, soybean, wheat bran and brewery west were not used as
these are not accessible and farmers cannot afford. Consequently, fish growth in the ponds is
According to (Bahnasawy et al., 2003) the amount of feed recommended is usually 5 – 10%
of the body weight of the cultured fish However, fish farmers do not know the total no. of
fish and the stocked average fish weight as they cannot weigh them. As a result the fish were
not fed as per recommended optimum quantity for semi intensive farming system. And do not
feed according to body weights, but provide feeds based on rough estimates of the feed
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required. The rest 17.6% of the respondents had used wheat bran to feed the fish where the
cost of wheat bran was not affordable by all farmers as reported by the respondents.
According to Yemi and Deji (2012), growth of the fish farming sector continues to be limited
by weak input and output markets and limited access to technologies and knowledge. In the
present study, in addition to the cost of feed, lack of awareness has been encountered as a
problem. The gap of extension service by community development agents has been a
challenging problem in the aquaculture sector. Lack of relevant expertise and private
investment in the sector add up to the constraints to the development of the aquaculture sector
in Ethiopia.
No 45.7
Retailers 25.7
None 71.4
Living conditions as compared to the past three years Much less 8.6
Less 2.8
Better 74.3
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Respondents in the study area thought that fish farming cannot be a profitable business so
that it will no longer be sources of income for the household. Table.2 describes farmers’ over
all perception on fish farming as agribusiness practice. More than half of the respondents’
believed that government and other nongovernmental organizations would provide support to
reduce the risk in cases of any failure in fish farming business. However, some farmers have
tried their best w to self sustain the business. Regardless of how they benefit from the fish
farming practices, i.e is it for household consumption or as sources of income, about 74.3%
of the respondents reported that their life has improved since they adopted fish farming
Constraints (%)
record keeping
predators
The above summarized constraints were reported by the respondents as to have hindered the
development of the sector. Although a few farmers can afford equipments and inputs for fish
impacts on productivity of the business itself and improvement of households’ nutrition and
overall living standards. Women and children in the study area were actively involved and
their contribution was valuable (in aquaculture or in any agricultural practices) to the
development of the sector. Since all fish ponds were located at the farmers’ backyard, women
and children took the burden of the pond management as well as feeding the fish.
However, their effort has not been well recognized and the contribution was not clearly
quantified. The result revealed that 94.3% of the male respondents participate in aquaculture
and related trainings and workshops alone. Women have never been in a trainings and
workshops even though the trainings are directly relevant to their day to day experiences.
Regardless of their participation women took the responsibility to feed the fish as well as
managing the ponds, women have to given special trainings besides to other managerial
issues for instance, feeding fish, pond management and cooking are among the key which is
very important to the women this is because of the tradition that in a rural area women took
the responsibility in cooking and feeding of the whole family. The result shows that there is
no gender based trainings and workshops have given to the farmers in pond culture system
Farmers in the study area have good opportunity vital resources such as water either diverted
from the rivers or directly from sub-surface springs. Water is very important for successful
implementation of pond culture. According to the study results, farmers suffer from low
agricultural production and productivity due to the constraints schussed above. Therefore,
future interventions should focus on alternative farming businesses techniques like fish
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farming which should be strengthened through allocation of adequate resources and expertise.
Nationwide stimulus package for small holder aquaculture in Kenya and Nigeria has led
expansion of aquaculture which eventually turned out to be one of the fastest growing
Market linkage between small holder farmers group and local cooperative unions should be
established as the latter can be a potential processor and supplier of fish feed, which is a
critical in put in fish farming. Farmers in this area do have access to financial credit in which
solely relies on government and relatives support. One alternative can be that these small
holder fish farmers become a member of farmers union where they can have access to credit
saving facilities there by develop confidence in taking risks in case of failure on new business
such as aquaculture.
References
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Bahnasawy, M.H, Abdel-Baky, T.E and Abd-Allah, G. (2003). Growth performance of Nile
tilapia fingerlings raised in an earthen pond. Archives of Polish Fisheries, 11: 277-285.
FAO, (2011). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. United Republic of
Tanzania - National Aquaculture sector overview.
FAO, (2012). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. United Republic of
Tanzania - National Aquaculture sector overview.
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