Rural aquaculture: Assessment of its contribution to household income and farmers’ perception in selected districts, Tanzania

Abstract

Rural fish farming is being promoted as a good source of protein and income diversification to fight poverty and inequality. However, its actual contribution to these rural households and local community at large is little known. Through interviews with 89 farmers' and 6 key informants, we examined the contribution of rural fish farming to local farmers' household income and investigate farmers' perceptions, opportunities, and constraints towards fish farming in six districts of Tanzania. Results indicated that fish farming contributed on average 13% to household incomes and that it explained 5% of the variation of the household income while 84% of the variation was due to non-fish sources. The majority (79%) of the farmers wanted to continue with fish farming, 9% planned to quit, and 12% had not decided whether to continue or not. Conclusively, much higher aquaculture contribution towards rural development could be obtained if appropriate measures are taken.

The Impact of Cooperative Membership on Fish Farm Households’ Income: The Case of Ghana

“…However, since one of the main aims of cooperatives is to promote access to the market for its member, farmers with high productivity are willing to join. This result is consistent with the findings of [28,54,55]. The coefficient value of off-farm employment was positive and significant.…”

“…The results confirm that cooperative associations aim as a mechanism at promoting agriculture performance and household welfare [10]. Members acquire skills and ideas to overcome challenges causing a detrimental effect on fish farms' profitability and productivity through educational training and lectures organized by the association [54,56].Lectures on topics like how to participate in the financial market, start a new business, and various other ways to improve income are often discussed during meetings, thus enabling the farmers to diversify their income to pursue more lucrative ideas and enhance household sustainable development [55]. Also, members can secure offfarm jobs to boost household income through social networking from other members [33].…”

An Ecological and Economical Assessment of Integrated Amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus) and Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Farming in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

“…However, in order for aquaculture to fill this gap, a number of challenges, varying from one place to another, need to be addressed [4,6,7]. In Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) for example, insufficient availability of fish feeds, and water scarcity during the dry season have been outlined as major constraints [8][9][10]. The situation prompts initiatives to develop farming systems that optimize efficient use of resources and integrated agriculture and aquaculture (IAA) provides a good example of such systems [10][11][12][13].…”

Limits of Tilapia Aquaculture for Rural Livelihoods in Solomon Islands

“…This expectation may undermine, to some extent, the potential success of the sector in the long-term [70]. Other studies on SSA have also shown that acquiring appropriate knowledge and skills of fish farming is vital for its adoption and success [71,72]. Therefore, policymakers, extension officers, and project officers must ensure practical short and long-term support is put in place for rural tilapia farmers, especially during the phase where they are continuously learning and making important decisions on their choice of livelihood strategies.…”