I have visited about 8 farms now and am really starting to appreciate the diversity of the farms, and seeing the different attitudes of the farmers. I forgot to bring the memory card with me that has the first few farms on it, including the largest commercial farm in Uganda, SON Farm. I will try to remember it next time I make my way to the internet so I can give a better overview of the many farms types.
Some farms have their own hatcheries and others are just for grow-out. The hatcheries are much more expensive to operate as the water usually must be heated, and proper tanks are required. The water in the grow-out ponds actually should be nearly stagnant to allow the temperature to rise and for the pH to balance out, as the incoming water is usually acidic and the fish will do much better in slightly alkaline water. No one uses tanks except for hatcheries, otherwise they use earthen ponds dug into the clay.
This photo is the farm in Bugiri that has experienced drought for the last 6 months so there is no water for the farm or hatchery. He has managed to keep water in 2 of his ponds, but he can’t hatch any new fish until the rains return. Climate change is really taking a toll on Uganda, it’s in the news all the time and everyone talks about it. This hatchery is made of bricks and cement and is for juvenile catfish.
Here is me with the farmer Kange and his wife standing by one of the ponds that actually has water. As you can see it’s pretty basic, and he has a very large tadpole population, which could be detrimental to juvenile fish.
This is the homemade feed for the catfish, made from locally availabe materials. It is too expensive for most farmers to purchase feed.
Here Maurice is testing the depth of the ponds. Usually they are less than a meter deep. This farmer was surprisingly stubborn and not open to advice. I was with Dr. Nelly who is an aquaculture consulant, and she was giving him advice on how to improve his ponds and increase his production and he was insistant that his way was better, even though I don’t think he’s ever made any money in the last 5 years he’s been farming. This pond is an example of how to not construct a pond- the walls should be sloped at 45 degrees and all the weeds should have been removed. He wants to put cages in the ponds to grow the tilapia and Nelly suggested that first he gets good at growing a few fish before he invests in cages.
We went to this farm to see if it would be eligible for a study on the new floating feed from Ugachick. We were testing the water quality and measuring the dimensions of the ponds. Both farmers we visited have never kept a single record of anything they do, so Nelly was trying to determine if the farmer would be able to keep proper records for the trial. The incoming water for most farms are diverted from a creek or river. In this photo there is water being diverted through the cement trough on the left, and Maurice is testing the water quality.
This is me with Dr. Nelly at a fairly large farm with 11 ponds north of Kampala. The farm was in a beautiful setting quite far from the main road. The “road” to get to the farm gives the word road a new definition, it was pretty hilarious. I can’t believe we didn’t blow a tire or puncture the gas tank. But it all seems normal to them!
You couldn’t get me to go in the water even if you paid me! Parasites scare me! Here Maurice is just calmly checking the depth at the centre of the pond. Luckily it was hot enough that his pants dried nearly by the time we left.
That’s all the time I have for now, hopefully one of these days I’ll have time to write more about what I’m learning. It’s so interesting, I’m just amazed by their inovation and resilience (both the fish and the Africans!!)
