Teaching communities to fish

Just teaching people to fish is said to be more sustainable than giving them fish, but Mzuzu University is giving people fish so that they can forever fish in their own ponds. JAMES CHAVULA writes.

Constructing fish ponds in a lakeshore district may sound as absurd as selling ice to Eskimos, but residents of Nkhata Bay North West call it big business—viable.

In Timbiri Village, it is unmistakable how the community once famed for growing cassava, potatoes, maize, fruits and vegetables is slowly rising to fish farming.

In the valleys of the village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Timbiri, nearly every dambo is dotted by dams and fish farming clubs. Presently, records show there are 101 dams benefitting about 500 farmers.

To the locals, this new industry follows the realisation that the majority of the lakeshore district’s population lives upland and need not wait for “crumbs of fish” from the few fishers on the North Western shores of Lake Malawi.

“Not every inch of Nkhata Bay is bordered by the lake. Some cannot afford the delicacy anymore because of long distance to the lake and soaring prices,” says Merina Phiri.

Phiri, who owns a pond, chairs Mthetsanjala Club in the area. While she enjoys steady access to fish, some are still hard pressed to lay their hands on the delicacy.

At Mpamba Trading Centre nearby, Fish is often scarce, a problem conversationalists attribute to overfishing in the continent’s third-largest fresh water lake. Prices are spiralling out of reach and some are paying an extra cost travelling to Nkhata Bay Boma for fresh fish. The situation is becoming worse as most of the fishing communities tend to sell their catch in bulks to town-based businesspeople who often shun rural markets in preference for lucrative urban markets.

“Things have to change,” says Phiri of the certainty which compelled her to join in when World Vision International introduced fish farming in the area in 2008.

In their concept, the multinational non-profit organisation envisaged the distribution of fingerings and vegetables enhancing the income and food security of vulnerable households interested in owning dams. However, it almost collapsed as the seeds of shiranus fish faced stunted growth despite demanding intensive care.

“Some farmers abandoned their dams and doubters felt vindicated,” says John Lungu of Timbiri Circle.

Not anymore.

Since last year, the industry has been back on its feet—thanks to the integrated agriculture and aquaculture initiative which Mzuzu University (Mzuni) has been implementing with the funding from the UNDP’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

The farmers credit the university in the Northern Region not only with teaching them how to construct and repair the dams.

Like Phiri, they are also grateful to Mzuni for providing them with fingerings of Tilapia rendalli which the university’s fisheries science expert, Wells Singini, prefers calling a fast-maturing species of chambo which requires less costly diet and less demanding attention than shiranus.

“It’s a nice fish for poor farmers. Unlike shiranus, rendalli doesn’t need costly food and strict management.  It’s an herbivorous species which eats grass in the pond as well as vegetables, including kholowa, chisoso and mwanaaligone,” says Singini.

For Phiri, the new fish species is a smart choice.

“The fish is easy to keep because we don’t go a long way to get feed. It grows fast, meaning I can sell them big or small,” she says.

Apart from according her household steady access to fish for relish when her household needs it, the dam is a source of income.

“My dreams are coming true,” she says. “A fish pond is a goldmine because we sell both the fingerings and mature fish,” she says.

Early this month, Phiri and her colleagues sold fingerings to Mzuni.

The earnings she calls ‘quick money’ , coupled with the fish sales at Mpamba, have enabled her to roof the veranda of her brick house with corrugated iron sheets and pay a K15 000 (US$36) deposit for a cow in a deal which requires her to pass on a she-offspring to her needy neighbour.

Besides, the fingerings’ sales also enabled Mzuni to scale up the initiative to new clubs in neighbouring villages, including Goweka and Kapatapata.

The mother of six says the vegetables serve as food for the fish which also feed on crumbs of nsima. In return, the water from the dam serves as manure for the greens. Just like that, the dam is nourishing her family with more than just fish.

“At the start, people thought we were mad, but now fish farming has not only become serious business but also talk of the village,” says Lungu, one of the few men in the women-dominated circles.

At the glance, the project is not just a model of how every university must make inroads to change the livelihood of people within its reach and beyond.

From fisheries expert Singini’s talking, it could be a spectacular way of acknowledging that the dwindling fish population in Lake Malawi is one of the major tragedies in our times.

“It is clear that catches in the lake are declining due to overfishing. The project targets people who are interested to venture into fish farming as a way of closing the gap as well as boosting their incomes and food requirements,” said Singini, who identified the area’s fish farming potential through reports of fisheries science students attached to World Vision.

Among the beneficiaries are clubs that purely comprise people living with HIV and Aids.

During the visit, members of Fellowship said fish farming is boosting their incomes.

Tereza Mazunda says the harvest from the pond is boosting their income and livelihood which was affected by HIV and Aids.

“By selling the fish, we can afford a bus to Nkhata Bay District Hospital when we need medical attention, even when it comes to replenishing antiretroviral drugs.  We also use part of the proceeds to buy the nutritious foodstuffs we need for drugs to work properly.”

With such success stories, Phiri and company believe fish farming is becoming a way of life in the fishing district along Lake Malawi.