03 SEPT - 17 SEPT

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Western Province accounted for the smallest percentage of households engaged in fish farming accounting for four percent of the total.

“An amount of 5,763.94 metric tons of fish was harvested from 1st October, 2016 to the census date around end January, 2018. The largest quantity of fish was produced by Northern Province, which registered 2,160.77 metric tons, followed by Muchinga Province with 719.29 metric tons. Eastern Province recorded the lowest quantity of fish produced with 40.74 metric tons,” the CSO report stated.

Further, the CSO disclosed that fish farming facilities such as ponds, cages, dams and weirs among others were used to rear fish. And a total of 7,242 fish farming facilities were recorded countrywide. At provincial level, Northern and Luapula provinces recorded the highest number of fish farming facilities with 2,556 and 1,140 facilities respectively.

“Ponds were the most common fish farming facility accounting for 92.7 percent of all facilities. Northern Province had the most ponds, accounting for 36.2 percent of the total,” CSO indicated.

Only two agricultural censuses have been conducted since independence. The first was done in the 1970/1971 agricultural season whereas the second was undertaken in the 1991/1992 season. Both censuses were undertaken on a large sample survey basis using sampling frames derived from the immediate past Population and Housing Census.