32 MARCH 2014 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG BOX 3. Specific examples of benefits from the AwF-WorldFish Malawi project. MR. GOODWELL OFFICE, SANTHE VILLAGE Mr. Goodwell now owns four ponds with a total area of 1,168m2 from one small pond (400 m2) which he had before the project. As an evidence of the profitability of his ponds, Goodwell proudly says that this year (2013), he has so far earned MK 68,000 (US$ 184) from fingerling sales. He also harvested one pond and realized MK 38,000 (US$ 103) from 38 kg. He also uses the water to irrigate leafy vegetables, fruits and bananas. PHINDU WOMEN’S FISH FARMING CLUB, NKHUMBA VILLAGE The Phindu women’s club still exists and operates its business as a group. The club’s fish production has improved. The income from club ponds is over MK 40,000 (US$ 108). Apart from group ponds each member also owns fish ponds as individuals. They have also gone into a village loan savings and loan scheme. Women members contribute cash monthly to share as loans for promoting their small businesses at a lower interest rate compared to commercial banks and micro-finance organizations. The club is also growing vegetables from dimbas (pieces of land for winter cultivation). BENJAMIN KADZOMBE, MTALI VILLAGE Benjamin had seven small ponds before the project but fish yields were very low from poor management practices. With training from the AwF project on pond management and integration, Benjamin has improved yields and is now graduating to become a commercial farmer. He has enlarged ponds to 1,500 m2 each and structured his irrigation system to benefit fish farming and crops. He also keeps livestock that are a source of manure for fish ponds and crops. Benjamin now employs five laborers. Benjamin now calls for another AwF and WorldFish project to especially look at marketing, which he thinks is his biggest challenge. THE SUCCESS STORY FOR OLIVE NJOLOMOLE Life is now promising for Olive Njolomole, who has been struggling to raise three children, one of whom was born while she was at school. She dropped out of school just after she had started her third year at a secondary school. Nothing was working for her, being a young woman living with only her mother. Her father died several years ago while working in Lilongwe. Olive and her family went home to depend on farming as a coping mechanism. Back home her mother struggled to raise five children on her own. She started growing tobacco, the main cash crop of Malawi. Olive finally opted to marry a man who also depended on small-scale agriculture. Together Olive and her husband supplemented their income from agriculture by selling labor (ganyu) to nearby tobacco estates. The introduction of “Sustaining famine mitigation through integrated aquaculture agriculture in Traditional Authority Mavwere,” with support from AwF made Olive see another side of life. The project made hereconomically independent. “After I had attained my JCE, I tried to apply for several jobs but I could not be employed,” lamented Olive, “but now with the IAA technologies that I have learned and the idea of taking fish farming as a business, I call myself now employed. I have two ponds; I am selling fingerlings to different farmers. On average, I earn Mk 12,000/month (~US$ 32/month) from fingerling sales and about MK 3,000 (~US$ 8/month) from table-sized fish. I also sometimes barter fish with anything. Recently I exchanged six table sized fish for a chicken. It was an egg laying chicken and it was worth Mk 1,500 (~US$4)”. Olive has realized that indeed nature often offers people true hidden treasures in the form of plants or animals that can be useful in various ways. Fish, for example, are a source of cheap protein, be it to the young or the aged. She has used the income from fish to renovate her house. As part of experience sharing, Olive has turned out to be an extension worker who is helping fellow farmers voluntarily. She that says taking up the challenge of being an extension agent has helped her to learn different farming practices from different farmers. As iron sharpens iron she says this process is helping her to improve her integrated aquaculture agriculture practices. Source: J. Nagoli and A. Chigere, personal communications, 2013 BOX 2. Aquaculture without Frontiers Bishramganj Project: A case study. Mr. Manoranjan Debbarma (42) comes from an agricultural background in paddy rice cultivation. However, he found it difficult to run a family of six through selling paddy alone, so he had to work as wage laborer in the neighborhood whenever it is off-season for paddy. His poor economic condition is reflected everywhere in his house. With only about 0.3 ha of paddy land, apart from a mudwalled house and a small tank, he has no other assets. His living conditions have changed over the last three years since he got in touch with AwF initiatives implemented through the St. Xavier’s Vocational Centre. With inputs and technical help from the Centre, he has made significant efforts to improve his relatively unproductive pond, which is situated in a difficult elevation of land vulnerable to many externalities. During 2009 he was able to sell more than 80 kg of fish @ 80 INR/kg [US$ 1.28/kg] from his 0.16 ha pond, which is a large amount of money for him, besides obtaining fish for (family) consumption regularly from his pond. Like many other beneficiaries, he also expects further support from the Centre and desires to expand his aquaculture activities. Source: AwF 2013b.
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