Chikolongo Fish Farm: Week 2 - Production Planning

It hasn't taken long to settle in to the farm, the community are great fun to work with, and I'm making some lasting friendships. Its improtant to build these relationships, and develop a level of trust with the families as they will be more receptive to the knowledge that I wish to pass on to them.

With little information about the history of the ponds; how many fingerlings were stocked, how much feed has been used, the costs to the farm so far etc, there is a clean slate to work with. I've measured the ponds and determined the potential ouptut from the farm, based on stocking the fish at three per m2. The farm will take on a semi intensive approach using supplementary feed and fertiliser.

With this knowledge I've started some investigative work. Locating a good source of fingerlings seemed like a good place to start, and I found a hatchery about two hours north of the farm, Maldeco Fisheries. They can provide monosex and mixed sex tilapia, whilst offering a 10% mortality fee for fingerlings lost in transit.

They can also provide access to commercial feeds. I discussed potential costings with them and decided I would need to look further in to our budget, as commercial feed is expensive. There's potential there though, and its good to have options. All in all, a good start to investigations.

In my downtime, I have been establishing the camp, working with the local guys to build a toilet, shower, roof over my tent etc. Its been good fun but I wonder if the roof will hold when the rain comes. Only time wil tell I guess.