Why Aquaculture Trials Have Not Been Successful in Tanzania? 113culture is concentrated in the Southern part of the country, notably, Mbeya,
Iringa and Ruvuma regions and in the Northern parts in the regions of
Kilimanjaro and Arusha. Currently (2015), there were 19,930 earthen ponds
with the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and catfish. Fresh water
aquaculture has increased from 4 tonnes in 2004 to 2,980 metric tonnes in
20132 (Table 1). The largest increase of production took place following the
implementation of the NADS of 2009. Despite such achievement, freshwater
aquaculture is still largely a subsistence activity practiced by small-scale
farmers with low social, cultural and economic status and limited access to
technology, markets and credits (Chenyambuga et al., 2012). Usually, this
consists of small fish ponds of an average size of 10 m x 15 m with a depth
range from 1 m to 1.5 integrated with crops or animal husbandry (ibid). Closer
analysis shows that these farmers lack the proper principles of integrated
aquaculture and agriculture. There are also 10 raceways of 25 m x 25 m in a
rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) farm in Arusha region. The production
of rainbow trout has remained small fluctuating from 4 - 8 tonnes annually
(Table 1).
Table 1. Fresh water production by specie in Tanzania
mainland (tonnes/yr)Year/
Species2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014Fresh
water
fish630 2 4 4 4 4 5 75 200 221 2913 2980 -Rainbow
trout
- 7 6 6 6 7 7 8 0 3 4 -
Source: FAO (2013).
Most small-scale fish farmers reported lack of funds, stunted growth of
stocked fish, inadequate knowledge on fish farming and unavailability of
concentrate feeds as the major constraints to fish farming (Chenyambuga et al.
2012). Other constraints included irregular water supply, predation,
unavailability of fingerlings, floods, theft, and lack of transport.
(^2) These data, however, differ from those obtained from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries
Development (MLFD), which shows that the production of fresh water increased from 640
tonnes in 2004 to 2,989 tonnes in 2013. To be noted that FAO data is obtained from the
country so, this discrepancy need to be clarified.