distributingthe resourcesfor decentralized
investment and production to far-flung
and diverse rural regions (Rondinelli and
Ruddle 1977). This is particularly true for
a new idea, such as aquaculture. Most
reports on the status of aquaculture
development in developing countries stress
the overwhelming institutional deficiences
that preclude rapid growth of the sector.
A combination of at least four basic
institutional deficiencies commonly occurs
in programs for small-scale aquaculture
development:
(i) most organizations that provide
technical inputs and/or services
are either absent or exist in only
their traditional forms or
surrogates and the latter are
usually inadequate for promoting
and sustaining aquaculture
development directly;
(ii) such institutions are rarely linked
into a hierarchy of supporting
institutions so as to provide a
reliable flow of inputs and their
resultant unreliability makes
adoption of their innovations,
services and techniques by small-
scale farmers unnecessarily risky;
(iii) owing to a combination of scarce
finances, ineffective linkages, lack
of skilled manpower and weak
political support, among other
things, existing institutions
generally have a low
administrative capacity to deal
with the complex problems and
procedures of aquaculture and
overall rural development; and
(iv) newly introduced governmental
institutions are commonly
incompatible with the traditions,
behavior and cultural patterns of
local "target" societies. As such
they may be a further source of
alienation and increased
impoverishment.
Like appropriate technology,
appropriate institutions to serve
aquaculture and other sectors of the
economy should be adaptable to the wide
and complex variety of problems and
conditions characteristic of developing
countries. The development and transfer
of supportinginstitutions, like aquaculture
technology transfer and development, must
blendadaptation, innovation and creativity
with an intimate knowledge of local
capabilities and constraints.DEFICIENCIES IN THE SUPPORTING
INFRASTRUCTURE FOR AQUACULTURE
Extension and information. The lack
of a well organized aquaculture extension
service - that indispensable link between
researcher, administrator and producer -
is usually a consequence of the general
scarcity oftrained specialist personnel and
is a factor contributing to low levels of
development, particularly of the small-
scale rural sector.
As a consequence of deficiencies in
infrastructure, the acquisition and
reinforcement of initial aquaculture skills
from earlier adopters is of major
importance. In Zomba District, MalaGi,
for example, 24% offish farmers and former
fish farmers obtained them from
neighboring farmers, 26% from distant
farmers, and 26% from personal
observation ofthe activity by other farmers
(Banda 1989). Farmers appear to prefer to
consult with other local, earlier-adopter
farmers of approximately similar social
and economic levels, since it is perceived
as giving a better evaluation of the risks
involved than would consultation with
extension personnel from an experiment
station backed by the resources of
government (Banda 1989).
Generally, early adopters of an
innovation have higher social status, such
as village headmen, that appear to make
them better evaluators of a new activity,
like aquaculture, at least in the early