WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2013 13 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 14) FIGURE 2. Training fish farmers of the Phetwane Aquaculture Project. security at household, village and community levels. Limpopo Province has huge aquaculture potential to improve rural livelihoods and create decent jobs through the integration of aquaculture with existing agricultural development projects, especially irrigation schemes. A shortage of fresh water for aquaculture is a major constraint on the development of aquaculture in Limpopo Province. In its favor, the province has abundant, readily available aquaculturerelated infrastructure, such as natural open water bodies for cage culture and balancing or storage dams for irrigation. Many of these dams are currently not in operation and could be easily converted into fish ponds to improve rural livelihoods through integrated agricultureaquaculture production systems. Interested individuals and organized groups of farmers need guidance and training to use such facilities for aquaculture development. Availability of quality fingerlings is a major building block of aquaculture. Currently, Limpopo Province has one fish hatchery (Turfloop Fish Breeding Station) – a government facility managed by the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) – that supplies quality fingerlings for production. Other government hatcheries, such as those at Dzindi and Tompi Seleka, need minimal rehabilitation for full operation. Insufficient financial support for existing and potential fish farmers hampers aquaculture development in Limpopo Province. To address these setbacks, the LDA and the aquaculture sector have developed policies and strategies that promote aquaculture ventures by attracting local and foreign direct investment in the sector. The Limpopo Aquaculture Development Policy, adopted by the LDA and the aquaculture sector in 2011, provides direction and guidance in terms of resource allocation and use, trade within and outside the province, institutional arrangements and many more aquaculture-related issues. Development of the Phetwane Aquaculture Project Farmers in the Phetwane irrigation scheme have been using furrow irrigation of crops since 1997. About 45 farmers were operating in the irrigation scheme, producing a variety of crops. Each farmer owns a plot of an average size of 1.2 ha, allocated through the local chief, who is the custodian of tribal land. In 1997 farmers registered a cooperative as a legal entity called the Phetwane Irrigation Farmers’ Cooperative Ltd (PIFC). The aim of forming the cooperative was for farmers to perform production activities at the irrigation scheme, with individuals producing and marketing their products collectively. The farmers later graduated and worked as one group with a strategic partner who invested and created a market for products such as potatoes, cotton, wheat and other cash crops. Buffelsdooring Dam is the water source for the irrigation scheme. The water from the main dam was first stored in a balancing or storage dam of 0.6 ha (Fig. 1) before diversion from the main irrigation canal into furrows of crop fields. In 2000, the change to a floppy sprinkler irrigation system led to abandonment of the balancing dam. In 2011, the LDA approached the farmers of the PIFC after the aquaculture potential in the vicinity of the irrigation scheme was recognized. The farmers accepted the concept of fish farming using the abandoned water balancing dam. The LDA commissioned a consulting engineering firm to survey the area and develop designs for rehabilitation and conversion of the existing balancing dam into a pond aquaculture system. The area (0.6-ha) was surveyed and prepared for the construction of four earthen fish ponds of different sizes. Each production pond was designed to be independent of the others, with its own inlet and outlet. The total surface area of the four fish ponds was 3664 m². The ponds were designed to contain about 55,000 fish at a stocking density of 15 fish/m2. Under normal circumstances, ponds are harvested two times annually. The estimated gross income is about US$ 250,000. Fish ponds were covered with bird netting to protect fish from predator birds (e.g., cormorants, kingfishers, herons, and hammerhead storks) that can cause huge damage to fish stocks. A 5-m² grid of plain wire provided proper support to the bird netting.
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