AGRICULTURE NEWS - Freshwater aquaculture in Africa is finally coming of age, but only north of our borders.
A colleague recently completed a continent-wide tour of aquaculture facilities, and his findings reveal exciting developments in many countries, which suggest that Africa may at last be catching up with Asia in this regard.
Egypt stands head and shoulders above other African countries, with an annual fish production of more than 750 000t.
Given that this is a desert country with one river, and cool winter temperatures, this is testimony to its spirit of entrepreneurship, good management, skilled operators, and, of course, government support.
The country has predominantly fertilised and fed earth ponds, with some cage culture and a few recirculating systems. Government sponsorship of feed mills catalysed the industry’s success 15 years ago.
Cage culture of tilapia forms the bulk of production in many countries. Production in the thousands of tons comes from lakes Kariba (Zimbabwe and Zambia), Victoria (Uganda and Kenya), and Volta (Ghana).
These are all corporate-scale ventures, vertically integrated with their own hatcheries and processing plants, and with either their own feed mills or joint agreements with international feed companies.
