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Monalisa Chikwengo
THE village fish pond initiative under the Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme (PCFS), which is credited with the current proliferation of ponds on established nutritional gardens in each of the country’s 35 000 villages will boost food and nutrition security while spawning incomes for the villagers.
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary, Dr John Basera recently observed that the joint establishment of fishing ponds and nutrition gardens was set to have ripple effects on the local economy.
“The impact of the programme at village level is improved household food and nutrition as well as income generation from sale of fish at community level,” he said.
Fish farming is one of the fastest growing sectors, which has the scope for efficient and cost-effective production.
“The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) will manage the fish ponds for sustainability while all gardens have farm managers who provide technical support and assistance in the management of the projects,” he added.
Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (Ardas), through its monitoring and evaluation unit will assist in monitoring of these projects.
“The success of the programme will be measured through the number of fish ponds stocked, number of fingerlings stocked, growth rates, fish sold and consumed at the end of the production cycle. Extension officers will continue to monitor the projects throughout the production cycle,” continued Dr Basera.
The major challenge the programme had to surmount was to improve access to quality fingerlings with Kariba and Bindura being the only sources to deal with.
“Trying to stock fish ponds in other provinces such as Masvingo and Matabeleland was problematic due to the long distances involved in moving the fingerlings to the project sites, which compromised the survival rate of the transported stock.
“Government is working on establishing hatcheries in Masvingo and Matabeleland provinces so that farmers can source fingerlings close by and at affordable prices,” remarked Dr Basera.
He said as good quality feed was expensive and often unavailable on the market, Government was promoting production of alternative feed sources.
“Government is training farmers on alternative protein sources such as the black soldier fly, duck weed and organic manure among others, which can be used in feed formulations,” he added.
The PCFS plays a critical role in promoting food security at local level with villagers having a dietary diversity, as the fish will be a source of protein that helps improve nutrition.
“This promotes integrated agriculture, as water from the fish pond can be used to irrigate a variety of vegetables within the garden while the vegetables can also be used as supplementary feed to fish,” said Basera.
According to the final round Crop, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment Report (CLAFA – 2) the number of village nutrition gardens has reached 7 091 covering an area of 6 277, 80 hectares.
A total of 5 649 gardens representing 80 percent were functional with 5 022 hectares under production.
Online Reporter