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.

Community metting to discuss the future of the farm

My Toilet

Bush Living

The roof is a little flat, what do you think?

Week 1 - Settling in to the Farm

Arriving in Blantyre, off the plane, I met Kate Mathias, my contact here in Malawi. We spent the first few days gathering supplies for the farm, before heading North to Liwonde National Park, where the farm is situated.

Once at the farm, I met some of the main employees on the farm as well as the majority of the 24 families. We sat down and had a group meeting on my role over the next three months, and what my expectations and theirs were for the future of the project.

The farm has been running for over 12 months without a single harvest to date. No one knows what size the fish in the ponds are, or how many there are. The community were very keen to get the project moving so I decided first protocol would be to harvest one of the ponds, and have a look at the catch. Needless to say, the 24 families were very happy with this course of action. Given that no market investigations have taken place, the harvest would be shared amongst the families,
but thereafer we will have a more commercial outlook for the farm.

As the majority of the families are ex poachers, they have no problems using seine nets, and have great harvesting techniques. After several attempts, one of the ponds was empty and we had 40Kg of fish to distribute. Everyone was happy, it was a good introduction to the farm, a great way to build the start of our relationship, and a perfect end to the week.

Using a Seine Net

Moving the seine net to the corner in order to pull the fish out

150g tilapia, locally known as Chambo!

The Brief

Chikolongo is situated on the outskirts of Liwonde National Park, Malawi. In 2013, a new fish farm project was developed, based in Chikolongo village, to address the concerns relating to poaching within the National Park and also improve food security and climate resilience for local communities.  24 households are directly engaged in the farm, which consists of seven fish ponds, two duck houses and one hectare of land for agricultural farming.  The farm also has positive impacts on the wider community through provision of water at a safe location away from the river and the protection of crops from animals. 

The farm also includes a six km fence which runs along the Western boundary of Liwonde National Park. The fence is electrified and designed to prevent poachers from entering the park, whilst also deterring elephants from encroaching on local farm land. 

Historically, the local community are engaged in maize and soybean farming, animal protein is often obtained from fish taken illegally from the Shire River which is protected within the National Park. The requirement for a more sustainable dietary source of protein has led to the construction of Chikolongo Fish Farm. Tilapia, locally known as Chambo, are purchased from a commercial hatchery on Lake Malawi and are stocked in to the fish ponds for on-growing to market size.

For the next three months I will be working on the farm, to write a 'Best Management Practice' manual and to develop the skills and knowledge of the 24 families. 

The Entrance to the Farm.