It was an exciting experience to present during the sixth annual Ugandan fish farmers symposium on January 22nd, 2013. Youths participation during the symposium was vibrant.
Some youths presented their innovations while others presented on behalf of their organisations. One of the aquaculture stakeholders at the symposium commended youth contributions saying that the youth of this generation presented a more practical approach to addressing aquaculture related questions. He further commented saying that it was probably because trainings in fish farming were more emphasised in Uganda today due to the current reduction of fish stocks in natural water bodies.
However, the number of youth that are able to contribute to aquaculture development is still minimal due to the following challenges:
- Lack of experience: Majority of youth do not have practical experience in fish farming practices.
- Mindset: Most youth prefer engaging in office jobs instead of fish farming. For example some fisheries graduates rarely envision aquaculture as a highly practical field profession and sometimes flee to other professions.
- Incentives: Incentives of being employed on fish farms are often not motivational enough for youth to continue engaging in aquaculture. For example the wages or salaries are often small as compared to the amount of labour invested. Furthermore, working on fish farms rarely provides capacity building opportunities like further education for youth.
My presentation on the status of aquaculture in Uganda shows some constraints in aquaculture production that can be used by youth as opportunities of income generation.
Some of these constraints include farmer in accessibility to quality seed and feed, inadequate technical advice and market challenges among others.Youth need to look beyond the challenges that inhibit their participation in aquaculture and focus more on the future benefits of obtaining practical aquaculture knowledge through internships on fish farms. Such field experiences provide youths with priceless skills that can enable them not only secure a future of self employment but also significantly contribute to aquaculture development.
The following are some of the possible aquaculture opportunities for youth and their roles in contributing towards development.
- Farm input suppliers: there is a high demand especially for fish feed and seed from fish farmers. Youth can generate income by supplying some of these inputs to farmers that cannot easily access them. Other inputs include harvesting gears and drainage pipes among others.
- Service providers: youth that have practical aquaculture knowledge can take the opportunity of obtaining an income by providing technical advice to practicing or prospective fish farmers.
- Feed factory suppliers: the demand for fish feed is high regardless of its increasing price. Therefore, feed factories need a constant supply of fish feed ingredients in order to meet this demand. Youth can either engage in agriculture or act as middlemen in order to obtain an income from supplying fish feed ingredients some of which include maize, soy bean and silver fish.
- Farmer mobilisers: Youth are energetic and can easily play the role of mobilising fish farmers into groups especially those located in remote areas where access to aquaculture facilities is a problem. Groups enable farmers cut some production costs like transport and in the process enable youth obtain respect and social status in the community. These youth could easily be voted in leadership positions in these societies.
- Fish farmers: fish has a high market which makes aquaculture a profitable venture. Youth engagement in fish farming will create a source of income and also supply nutritious animal protein not only to their homesteads but communities. However, they will have to be in possession of practical aquaculture knowledge or access good technical advice in order to prevent farm production losses.
- Market links: Several youth are exposed to modern computer technologies. They can generate income by using these technologies to designing programmes that can easily link farmers to highly profitable markets.
- Writers: Youth can participate in writing aquaculture articles and fundable proposals. This aids in information sharing and enables youth to link to valuable professional networks.
In conclusion, the 6th annual Ugandan fish farmers symposium provided a good platform for youths to actively share their experiences in aquaculture. It is important that youths are represented in local, regional and international agricultural discussions. This is because their zeal and creativity can generate ideas that can bring a fresh approach towards improving agriculture development.
The following are reactions to some of the questions that were asked by aquaculture stake holders during the symposium in relation to my presentation. I believe this information could be relevant in addressing some of the problems farmers face in aquaculture.
1. How can farmers overcome the problem of expensive manufactured feed since the price keeps increasing?
Farmers should not stop using quality manufactured feed but ensure that they recover its cost as a farm input during marketing. Fish has a high market in local communities regardless of its size. It can be sold before the end of six months production as long as it attains an edible table size. This reduces expenses spent on feed and also enables the farmers obtain a profit from selling fish that is affordable to the community. However if a farmer attains his fish target size after six months, he should sell the fish at a price that can enable him obtain profits even if it is high. Also, Farmers should seek advice on the most effective ways of feeding fish.
2. Which fish can suitably be cultured in my country DR. Congo since temperatures are sometimes too cold?
Kabale district is one of the coldest areas in Uganda and yet some farmers are successfully growing Mirror carp which is performing better as compared to Tilapia. There is hope for farmers interested in practicing aquaculture regardless of the challenges their geographical locations present. However, relevant studies need to be conducted in order to identify suitable culture fish species.
Picture: Youth seining a fish pond in Tororo District in Uganda