The development of small-scale freshwater aquaculture in Mozambique.

Author(s):  
Blessing Mapfumo

Abstract This case study is based on information collected by the author during a visit to Mozambique in November 2008 and May 2009 as part of a scoping study by INFOSA for the Mozambique Small-scale Aquaculture Development Plan. The work involved collaboration with the Institute of Aquaculture Development in Mozambique (INAQUA). INFOSA currently has training and capacity building programmes for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in Mozambique. Although aquaculture in Mozambique is in its infancy, the cultivation of freshwater species such as tilapias has been in existence for many years. The country has over 60 major rivers in addition to lakes, dams and freshwater lagoons and is dominated by a tropical climate. Potential for mariculture along the Indian Ocean has also been investigated for many years. Small-scale freshwater aquaculture in Mozambique is dominated by many fish farmers with small ponds averaging about 200 m2 in area. Production is generally low, subsistence oriented, and integrated with some form of agriculture. During the author's visit to many parts of the country in 2008, it was noted that there is generally huge interest amongst many farmers in taking aquaculture more seriously by operating it as a small business for income generation as well as for household food production. Assistance from the government has often come in various forms, but mainly through training and extension services offered by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Aquaculture Development in Mozambique (INAQUA), which falls under the Ministry of Fisheries. A few organized fish farmers have received direct financial support for the construction and management of fish ponds from the government. Non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have been of great assistance in the past. Now that the regulatory framework for the development of aquaculture in Mozambique is in place, the government, through INAQUA is concentrating much on building strategies to improve production, especially among smallholder farmers. Part of the strategy involves organizing the individually scattered farmers, by district, into clusters and then trying to create larger, central farms that will act as drivers to these smallholder farmers. In addition, the government has accelerated its efforts to lure potential investors into supporting the developing aquaculture sector. This is in line with the FAO's Special Programme for Aquaculture Development in Africa (SPADA). A number of constraints to the development of aquaculture in Mozambique have been identified; poor infrastructure, and the requirements for training and capacity building, access to finance, and research and development. Other factors include poor coordination between the institutions, market access and a lack of planning strategies.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panduleni Ndinelago Elago

Abstract The Government of Namibia addresses food security and poverty reduction through the development of rural sectors, including fisheries and aquaculture. Freshwater aquaculture is recognized as a potential target for sustainable development. The Government of Namibia, together with the Government of Spain signed an agreement in 2003 to establish the Inland Aquaculture Centre (IAC), to demonstrate the possibilities of fish farming activities in the northwest of Namibia and in the country at large. Seven hundred new small-scale fish farms (SSFF's) were identified to participate in fish farming activities. Around 300+ farmers received an approximate total of 550,000 fingerlings over 5 years. With the extension of the project in 2007-2009 through strengthening of extension services on inland aquaculture development, under the 'Aquaculture in Northern Namibia' (ANN) Project umbrella, an extra 100 or more new farmers were identified. Results show that the extension services managed to assist in fish harvests for 114 SSFF's with 9560 kg of tilapia and 1556 kg of catfish harvested. The project's findings highlighted difficulties in accurately measuring fish production. Most fish farmers are located in a region where they only have enough water for fish culture during 5 months of the year. Also, many of the ponds they were using were incorrectly constructed and not suitable for fish farming. Farms in areas such as these, in hindsight, were unrealistic targets for aquaculture development, and it is the opinion of the author that it is important to re-direct effort and resources towards those able to farm with a good water supply for at least 10-12 months of the year. As of July 2010 the question remains unanswered; can fish farming in northwest Namibia be sustainable and economically viable with the current level of government extension, infrastructure and locally available resources? The author suggests that this will be possible in the next 5 years, once the government, together with the private sector and NGOs join to re-assess their current sets of objectives, which are, at present, too ambitious. Improvements could be made by implementing a better strategy, directing resources at a smaller number of sustainable, successful fish farmers rather than a larger number that include more inefficient farms. Large numbers of farms look good in policy documents, but spreading resources widely and inefficiently results in reduced net production and sustainability in the mid- to long-term.


Water SA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3 July) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Fanadzo ◽  
B Ncube

South Africa is classified as a water-scarce country, and depends on agriculture for food production. The irrigation sector is the largest consumer of water in the country, accounting for about 62% of water utilisation, but also losing 30–40%. Given the threat of drought and climate change, efficient irrigation systems have become a necessity, especially in the smallholder farming sector where most losses occur. Smallholder irrigation schemes (SIS) were developed to improve rural livelihoods through sustainable food production for food security and poverty alleviation, but these development objectives remain largely unfulfilled. The objectives of this review were to assess challenges facing SIS and explore opportunities for revitalising the schemes. The focus was on government policy and strategies to support smallholder farmers. A review of government policy showed that although the needs and interests of smallholder farmers are high on the national agenda, there is insufficient financial support to the sector, suggesting that smallholder agriculture is not really seen as a potential driver of the economy. The core focus of the government on repairing irrigation infrastructure while neglecting the soft components relating to capacity building has partly been blamed for the failure of SIS in South Africa. Capacity building is one of the missing links in smallholder irrigation development and many failures have been attributed to lack of adequately trained farmers and extension staff, particularly in irrigation water management. Land tenure insecurity has been singled out as a major institutional challenge leading to poor performance of irrigation schemes. The diversity of schemes means that different kinds of interventions are needed to respond to varying farmers’ needs, resources and agricultural contexts. These findings point to the need to balance the soft and hard components of the irrigation schemes for sustainability. It is therefore evident that the government needs to review its priorities in revitalisation of SIS. Land tenure policies allowing increased access to arable land need to be developed urgently, together with the promotion of alternative cropping systems that are suitable forthe smallholder farming sector.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthe Wens ◽  
Anne van Loon ◽  
Moses Mwangi ◽  
Mike Johnson ◽  
Ted Veldkam ◽  
...  

<p>Ongoing research to capture the socio-hydrologic feedbacks between human adaptation decisions and agricultural drought risk has brought agent-based modelling (ABM) tools to the foreground. We explored how such ABM can be used to integrate heterogeneous individual adaptive behaviour in a drought risk framework. Our ABM framework focuses on adaptation decisions (irrigation, land management) by individual farmers and their interaction with drought hazard, exposure and vulnerability. This framework enables us to more correctly reflect the dynamic nature of drought risk in time and space. Moreover, as the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction policies rests on the complexities of drought adaptive behaviour of the targeted group, we completed multiple data collection activities to understand the adaptation decisions of smallholder farmers under drought risk. These activities, inclusing smallholder farmer questionaires, choice experiments and stakeholder interviews, were based on behavioural theories and their links to socio-economic aspects in semi-arid Kenya, so we could assess what drivers and barriers determine the adoption of drought adaption measures in this context.  Moreover, people’s preferences towards ex-ante cash transfers, timely extension services, tailored early-warning systems, and access to credit markets were tested.</p><p>The framework and data collection results were used to calibrate the decision rules in a new ABM (ADOPT), to simulate small-scale agricultural adaptation decisions in response to drought risk in the past. The protection motivation theory is compared with scenarios of no adaptation dynamics and of economic rationality, so as to test different behavioral assumptions. Capturing the spatio-temporal feedbacks between bounded-rational adaptation decisions by smallholder farmers and seasonal weather conditions, ADOPT is capable of mimicking the evolution of heterogeneous adaptation decisions and trends in historic yields over time. We show the benefit of assessing drought risk (poverty, food security and aid needs) on an individual household level. Additionally, we adjusted ADOPT to simulate how smallholder farmers in Kenya respond to drought policy interventions by the government and (future) drought events, explicitly modelling adoption incentives and constraints and the social interactions among farmers. As such, the effect of pro- and reactive top-down decisions by governmental institutions on the household and community vulnerability to droughts could be evaluated in order to find maximized effects on drought resilience.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tafireyi Chamboko ◽  
Emmanuel Mwakiwa ◽  
Prisca H. Mugabe

At the attainment of Zimbabwe’s independence, government of Zimbabwe established the smallholder dairy development programme to encourage smallholder farmers to participate in formal milk markets. Although now more than three decades since the government established this programme, smallholder contribution to the national formal market remains low at 5%. This study was undertaken to determine factors affecting milk market participation and volume of sales to milk collection centres of the smallholder dairy value chain. Four smallholder dairy schemes were purposively selected on the basis of whether the scheme participated in the semi-formal or formal dairy value chain. A total of 185 farmers were then selected through simple random sampling and interviewed using a pretested structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Heckman two-stage selection econometric models. Results show that resources (represented by dairy cows, household size), knowledge (educational level, access to information and extension), experience (household head age) and agro-ecological region significantly determined farmers’ participation in milk markets. The study also shows the determinants of milk sales volumes to be resources (number of dairy cows and landholding size); market access (distance to milk collection centre); ambition of the farmer (age); and natural climatic conditions (agro-ecological region). Government policy interventions therefore need to be targeted at increasing the number of dairy cows, taking into account landholding and market access, targeting educated, young farmers located in agro-ecological regions I and II, providing them with adequate, appropriate information and extension packages in order to enhance milk market participation and volume of sales.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Asante ◽  
Ernest Kissi ◽  
Edward Badu

Purpose The needs assessment is the heart of any capacity-building strategy since it determines the design of any intervention, and also helps to prioritise the allocation of resources. Whereas there is a considerable amount of literature on the challenges faced by small- and medium-scale building contractors (SMBCs), very little is known about the needs (support) required by SMBCs. But given the critical role played by SMBCs in the construction industry demands, an understanding of how this sector can be assisted is required. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature relative to capacity building of SMBCs by exploring and examining the needs with the objective to extend the understanding on how to promote and sustain SMBCs to continue their infrastructural delivery at the local and rural areas in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire with five-point Likert scale is administered to 416 respondents, including local government authorities, consultants, first-class contractors and SMBCs using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data generated from the survey are analysed using mean score ranking and principal component analysis, thus enabling the findings of the study to be examined under six thematic areas. Findings The SMCs needs identified include anti-corruption measures, job accessibility, technical and technological assistance, favourable fiscal policy, business development support and financial assistance. The findings of the study bring to the attention of policy makers the critical areas that required support by the assistance of SMBCs. In the interim, the study recommends the extension of business advisory services to the SMBCs by National Board of Small-Scale Industries, whilst in the long term, the government must create the necessary business operating environment to promote SMBCs pertaining to the industrial sector of the economy. The SMBCs must also factor the needs into their business operations that can be addressed from within. Originality/value The study suggests the need of SMBCs in building a robust construction industry in developing countries.


Contract farming is usually seen as a useful mechanism to assist smallholders in overcoming market access constraints. However, in spite of economic benefits, high smallholder dropout rates from contract schemes are commonplace. The aim of this study is to postulate a mechanism that uses quantitative and qualitative data from the Indian States to show that smallholder farmers benefit from a resource-providing contract in terms of higher yields and incomes, but that most of them still regret their decision to participate within the contract scheme and would like to exit if they might. The analysis underlines that research that specialize in narrowly defined economic indicators alone cannot explain farmers’ satisfaction with contracts and their dropout behaviour. The main problem within the contract scheme is insufficient information provided by the corporate. Farmers don't understand all the contract details, which results in substantial mistrust. Farmers believe that the corporate behaves opportunistically, as an example during the output weighing procedure, and these beliefs are significantly correlated with the farmers’ wish to exit. Moreover comparing such an instance to recent spike in dissatisfaction amongst farmers in the Punjab state in India, followed by disregard for the Government of India’s new found APMC Policy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-372
Author(s):  
Chilenye Nwapi

AbstractFew mining countries face capacity building challenges comparable to Rwanda's. Worsened by the genocide, a 2009 report put the number of mining scientists in Rwanda at 40, fewer than four below the age of 40. The government has however recognized that local skills development is crucial to the potential of mining to contribute to the country's economic development. This has been demonstrated through a series of reforms, culminating in the mining code of 2014. This article considers two issues critical to capacity building in the mining sector: formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining and the promotion of local content / procurement. Its main thesis is that the code provides limited opportunities for local mining capacity building and its local content provisions are rather nervously worded. This is worsened by the fact that Rwanda has no freestanding local content legislation. The article calls for Rwanda to adopt such legislation, with specific provisions on local skills training.


AGROFOR ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soeleman SUGIHARTO

Approximately 41% of the Earth’s land surface is covered by drylands thatsupports 36% of the world’s human population. In Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia53% of the province is covered by drylands in which the driest regency, GunungKidul that occupies nearly 47% of the province, is covered by 70% agriculturaldryland. Despite the phenomena of forest degradation activities for agriculturaldevelopmet by large corporation, nearly abandoned agricultural drylands such as inGunung Kidul Regency exists all over Indonesia. Such drylands have not attractedlarge investors nor government to develop into agricultural activities due toeconomic reasons. This research explored a community based afforestation projectbeing carried out by the support of social investors and academic researchers,virtually without involvement of the government. Among other, teak is one of onlyfew plantations that could grow in such dryland areas and being the corecompetency of local farmers. The basic arrangement between the investors andfarmers was mudharabah revenue sharing as an alternative to conventional pay-incashto land owners and smallholder farmers. The economic benefits of theprogram were valued by using enterprise budget method by considering the capitalinvestment and operating expenses in which cost inflation and teakwood pricesincreases were incorporated. This research proved that the community-basedteakwood afforestation activities along with mudharabah revenue sharing inmarginal drylands could fairly improve the wealth of all stakeholders in theprogram.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Chiedozie Okpukpara ◽  
Olusegun Adebayo ◽  
Ikenna Charles Ukwuaba

The study examined the constraints of access to the use of agricultural insurance schemes (AIS) by small-scale farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. Sustainable agricultural enterprise in most developing countries like Nigeria can be achieved through adequate financing especially in the area of agricultural insurance. Despite the existence of insurance services by the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation and other private firms in Nigeria, there has been a low level of participation of farmers buying insurance premium; thus, there is a need to examine the hindrances in accessing the scheme. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economics characteristic of small- scale farmers, examine the types of agricultural insurance and evaluate the constraints in accessing AIS in the study area. Primary data were collected from 150 farmers with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that farmers in the study area were dominated by the married (68%), literates (81.33) and males (73.33%) with the mean age and farming experience of 47 and 19 years respectively. Crop insurance (56%) and farm implement insurance (46%) were the major types of agricultural insurance used by the farmers. Rigorous procedures in claim settlement (3.266), poor government attention (3.106) poor repayment (3.080) and non-coverage of all the crops (3.093) were among the major challenges in accessing AIS) in the study area. The study recommended that the government through the ministry of Agriculture or Bank of Agriculture should eliminate the bureaucratic processes and bottlenecks encountered by the farmers in accessing AIS.


Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 772-779
Author(s):  
T.Vinsela Jeev

During the DMK regime many welfare schemes for implemented for women especially. This schemes for developments for socio and economic activities for women. The poor women, widows, physically challenged were benefited their schemes. The government allotted lot of sewing machines, Free school books, Midday meal schemes, Small scale Industry, Self help groups, Boating supply for fisher mans and many women teachers were appointed in Elementary school, Middle school, High schools. Women’s were appointed in police Department and also so many schemes for the development of socio and economic condition of the poor women people.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document