Aller Aqua Zambia Supports Fish Farm in Mpango Villlage
Last week the Aller Aqua team took a drive down to Mpango Village to visit a project we have been supporting in conjunction with Lotri Bay. As an organization, not only are we committed to producing the best quality fish feed in Sub-Saharan Africa but we also strive to strengthen our community outreaches through technical farm-visits. In doing so, we support the growth of the aquaculture industry through good feed and management practices.
Small-scale aquaculture operations make critical contributions to development in the areas of employment, food security and nutrition with fish constituting an important source of protein. Aller Aqua plays a major role in this by supporting efforts from the community which are aligned with our values. When Lotri Bay manager Marlene Randall reached out to us to partner on this small-scale fish-farming project in Mpango Village, it was a no-brainer!
The farm currently has one 12x24m fish pond managed by the community in Mpango Village. They sourced their fingerlings from Yalelo Zambia and stocked about 7 fish per m2. Though they have size variations in the pond, which is fairly normal, they attained an average body weight of 296g in a space of 5.5 months. The pond is covered by a bird net to prevent predators from enjoying a free meal of farmed fish! With less than 0.6% mortalities the team managing the Mpango Village pond can be commended for their efforts and commitment to the health of the fish seeing that they do not have formal backgrounds in aquaculture.
One of the many challenges faced by the community is good road access to feed and farming inputs. Though the Aller Aqua Factory is based in Siavonga as well, poor road networks present a challenge to customers collecting feed on time. Most farming inputs such as quality nets and water meters are found in Lusaka which is more than a 3-hour drive from Mpango Village. Another challenge was impediments flowing into the pond and compromising the overall water quality.
Solutions and recommendations:
- Aller Aqua is ramping up their technical support in the field so that small to medium size farming operations have access to good technical information. To this effect, they will share technical knowledge, feeding charts, and visit more cages/ponds to monitor progress.
- Aller Aqua have also opened a walk-in retail outlet in Siavonga town to ease the burden of farmers having to drive down to the factory located at the heart of Kamimbi Village. This makes our feed more accessible.
- A grass perimeter (trimmed and managed well) for the pond will curb the flow of impediments into the pond.
In summary we are happy to have supported the efforts made by Lotri Bay and Mpango Village in running this fish pond.
Through this, jobs, technical knowledge, and access to nutrition have been made possible. We look forward to their growth and that of more farmers in the local communities.
