Charles C. Ngugi

Potential effect of aquaculture promotion on poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa

There is a policy of increased support of aquaculture development in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the region, aquaculture expansion has the potential to create new jobs and improve food security among poor households. Three computable general equilibrium models were used to estimate the effects of aquaculture expansion and increased input productivity on poverty reduction in Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. The results suggest that there will be positive effects on per capita income for all households in Ghana and Kenya. In Tanzania some rich households will experience income loss, because of resource shift from other sectors to aquaculture. Because of reduction in poverty associated with price reductions, and increases in minimum income associated with income expansion, the poverty gap decreased in all household groups. Because of high sectoral linkages, aquaculture development is a potential candidate for sector-specific policy support to address poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Economic and Risk Analysis of Tilapia Production in Kenya

Commercial production of tilapia in Kenya has potential for expansion, but growth and development of the tilapia industry in Kenya will depend upon its profitability and the effect of associated risks. Data from pond experiments, on-farm trials, and farm surveys were used to develop enterprise budgets and a risk analysis for nine production scenarios. The nine scenarios include: 1) monoculture of sex-reversed male tilapia fed either rice bran, a pelleted experimental diet, or a pelleted pig finisher diet; 2) clarias monoculture fed with each of the three diets; and 3) tilapia-clarias (sex-reversed male fingerlings) polyculture fed with each of the three diets. Net returns/ha were highest for production with the pig finisher diet, with clarias in monoculture the highest followed by tilapia in monoculture and then the polyculture system. The lowest net returns/ha were obtained with clarias fed rice bran. Profitability was affected by feed cost and tilapia survival. Tilapia monoculture systems had lower probabilities of financial losses than either clarias monoculture or the polyculture system. Use of the pelleted diets also resulted in lower probabilities of financial losses. Lower yields from the rice bran feed scenario resulted in its greater sensitivity to fluctuating costs of rice bran and survival of tilapia.

Analysis of the use of credit facilities by small-scale fish farmers in Kenya

The government of Kenya encourages aquaculture development by offering credit facilities through the government agricultural finance institution, Agriculture Finance Corporation. Nevertheless, the level of credit use in fish farming is very low. Access to credit is among several factors that affect farmers’ decision of whether to use particular technology or services. The study examined factors that affected the decision of fish farmers in Kenya to utilize credit facilities in fish production using a probit model. The analysis suggests that farmers in the Western province will have a 19% more probability of using credit facilities for their fish farming operations than farmers from the other provinces such as the Rift Valley, Central, and the Eastern province. The effect of tilapia sales on the probability of credit use by fish farmers is more than three times that of catfish sales. Total pond acreage owned by fish farmers had a positive effect on credit use but the effect was very small and negligible. The level of fish farmers’ use of credit facilities is very low, and there is probably the need to educate farmers on credit use and for the government agricultural lending agency and other commercial agricultural lenders to invest in this enterprise. Kenyan lending institutions have financed traditional agricultural enterprises, and with the growing production of farmed fish, more research is needed to document the aquaculture business model to assist in assessing the profitability potential in aquaculture.

Daily Growth of Young-of-the-Year of the Baringo Tilapia, Oreochromis Niloticus baringoensis (Trewavas, 1983)

Otolith microstructure analysis was used to validate microincrement deposition rate and to determine daily growth rates of young-of-the-year (YOY) Baringo tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus baringoensis. Micro-increment formation was validated as daily by correlating the number of circuli on otoliths with the known age of cultured fish. For wild young-of-the-year fish collected from Lake Baringo, Kenya, in August and October 2007 length was positively correlated with the age of fish (total length (mm) = 0.1187 age (/day) + 1.1344 (r2 = 0.97); standard length (mm) = 0.0964 age (/day) + 0.7082 (r2 = 0.97)) and growth rate was subsequently estimated at 0.12 cm/day.

Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Exposed to Aqueous Extracts of Neem (Azadirachta indica)

In this study, the physiological and biochemical response of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) after 96 and 24 h exposure to aqueous extracts of neem (Azadirachta indica) in extract concentrations ranging from 0 to 32,000 mg/l was evaluated. After 96 h and 24 h exposure, the LC50 of neem extract was estimated at 3,200 and 6,800 mg/l, respectively. Plasma cortisol increased beyond pre-treatment levels at neem extract concentrations above 2,000 mg/l over 96 h and above 4,000 mg/l over 24 h. Blood glucose increased at neem extract concentrations above 1,000 and 5,000 mg/l at 24 and 96 h, respectively. Neem extract concentration had little effect on serum sodium and plasma chloride. Hematocrit was higher than the control at neem extract concentrations above 1,000 mg/l in the 96 h exposure and above 2,000 mg/l in the 24 h exposure. Plasma ammonia increased significantly at neem extract concentrations above 2,000 mg/l for both the 96 h and 24 h tests. Immediately after beginning treatment, cortisol levels increased significantly at neem extract concentrations above 2,000 mg/l in the 96 h test and 4,000 mg/l in the 24 h toxicity test. Exposure to neem extract interfered with the antioxidant defense system of the fish by reducing liver catalase activity. Even though extracts of neem are less toxic at low concentration, concentrations exceeding 3,200 mg/l influence physiological and biochemical disturbances in fish.