1. Introduction
Fish and fisheries products have increasingly remained one of the major foreign exchange earners in Uganda with the sector contributing to total export earnings of 4.9%. The sector employs nearly 500,000 people directly involved in fishing and fish processing. Overall, 1.2 million people depend on the sector for household income. However, this resource is susceptible to depletion due to over-exploitation. Fish farming and management of the fisheries resources can ensure sustainability in the utilization of the fishery resources. SWHAEZ is blessed with an abundance of scattered inland water mass comprising of minor lakes, streams and rivers which lie in the districts of Kisoro, Kanungu, Rukungiri and the greater Kabale. These water bodies have the potential to serve in a versatile capacity for fish production. South Western Highland Agro-Ecological Zone’s domestic fish production is dominated by the smallscale artisanal farmers who could be encouraged to go into cage fish farming system utilizing the vast available scattered inland water bodies. The available water bodies (Bunyonyi (in Kabale), Mutanda, Mulehe, Chahafi, Kayumbu (Kisoro), Kimbugwe and Garubunda (in Rukungiri) could offer opportunities for fish farming in the Southwestern highland Agro-ecological zone of Uganda. However, the potential of these natural water bodies for capture fisheries is not documented.
Besides capture fisheries, aquaculture has been in existence in the zone for the last 6 decades. Despite this long history, a rich aquatic resource and high desire for aquaculture in the zone, the enterprise is still at a subsistence scale. Therefore, the project aimed at making informed decisions on existing natural water bodies, fish introductions and on the management practices that can boost the productivity of fish in the SWHAEZ.
Aquaculture in SWHAEZ has been predominantly landbased since its inception in the 1950’s. There are currently about 350 ponds operated by more than 300 fish farmers in districts of Kanungu, Kisoro, Rukungiri and greater Kabale. Despite these numbers the contribution of aquaculture to local fish production is still insignificant. Available data suggests that the output from aquaculture in 2014 was estimated to be less than 1% of local fish production . Increasing aquaculture production will be a major step towards food security in SWHAEZ and a further step in achieving 20% of local production, similar to the global mean, which the government seeks. In order to achieve this goal in addition to meeting the estimated annual deficit of 400, 000 mt and cage aquaculture must be given serious consideration since land-based aquaculture in SWHAEZ is mostly extensive and the land is finite .
SWHAEZ is blessed with an abundance of scattered inland water mass comprising of minor lakes, streams and rivers which lie in the districts of Kisoro, Kanungu, Rukungiri and the greater Kabale. These water bodies have the potential to serve in a versatile capacity for fish production. South Western Highland Agro-Ecological Zone’s domestic fish production is dominated by the small-scale artisanal farmers who could be encouraged to go into cage fish farming system utilizing the vast available scattered inland water bodies. The available water bodies (Bunyonyi (in Kabale), Mutanda, Mulehe, Chahafi, Kayumbu (in Kisoro), Kimbugwe and Garubunda (in Rukungiri) could offer opportunities for fish farming in the Southwestern highland Agro-ecological zone of Uganda. Utilizing only 1% of the area of natural water body (approximately 8502 km2) corresponds to about 8500 hectares of water. This quantity of water is more than 10 times the area used for land-based aquaculture, about 468 hectares, estimated with 1,300 farms with mean size of 0.36 hectares. The culture of other desirable species such as the catfishes can also be expanded through cage aquaculture in addition to Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) which is currently the only species cultured in cages in SWHAEZ . There is no doubt that cage aquaculture has the potential to make significant contribution to total fish production and food security in SWHAEZ. Uganda is a good example of a country where cage aquaculture has played an important role in inland fish yields mostly in the central parts. During 1978 to1993, production from cage aquaculture accounted for 67.5% of total fish production of inland water bodies. It has been suggested that if cage farmers in SWHAEZ can produce yields of 50-150 kg/m3/9 months as done elsewhere in Africa, less than 100 hectares of fish cages can produce yields matching the current capture fisheries production of 90,000 mt.
Evidently cage aquaculture is not without negative environmental impacts. However, most impacts can be avoided if appropriate policies are implemented to limit the area of water allocated for cage aquaculture, which is currently being considered. Having significant national water resources for cage aquaculture is an important first step, but national development policy for cage aquaculture should be cognizant of other complex and interacting constraints to cage aquaculture development as have already been documented elsewhere. Cage aquaculture has been developing in Uganda consistently in the last decade but there have been no significant contribution in the overall aquaculture production figures. Major constraints to aquaculture development suggested for Sub-Saharan Africa are feed and seed quality and availability, cost of cage design and construction, and financing. Other constraints identified include lack of technical know-how, lack of market, lack of processing, lack of access to information and support , conflict over water use among others.
Many of the constraints suggested have been attributed to aquaculture in general and are likely to be constraints facing cage farmers but because they are mostly described for the entire sub-Saharan Africa, it becomes difficult to develop policy strategies and solutions targeting specific constraints. It is imperative that each country identifies its specific set of constraints and prioritize development interventions accordingly.
The study aimed at identifying the constraints and potential opportunities of the aquaculture industry to local fish production in SWHAEZ. From the policy perspective, this study informs the different fisheries and aquaculture stakeholders about the most feasible interventions necessary for expanding cage aquaculture.
Specific objectives
To identify major challenges facing cage fish farming in SWHAEZ.
To identify any opportunities that could be exploited to increase the contribution of cage aquaculture to fish production in SWHAEZ.
"to be continued in the next part"