Govt escalates fingerling stocking to all dams

THE fisheries and aquaculture sector is set for a major transformation following Government’s decision to stock all dams with fingerlings, as it moves to boost production and improve the quality and quantity of fish in the country’s water bodies.

The move is meant to enhance food and nutrition security while generating income for citizens.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Resource Department (FARD) director in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Mr Milton Makumbe said Government was targeting to stock all dams under the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) with sexed fingerlings.

“We have the conventional fisheries programme that solely focuses on stocking of cages in large water bodies and also making use of sexed fingerlings,” said Mr Makumbe.

The projects further target to improve livelihoods in different communities through improved income and nutrition, creation of employment and capacitation of women and youths mainly.

He urged all farmers who want to venture into fish production to use sexed fingerlings.

Mr Makumbe explained: “Sexed fingerlings are an all-male population. They are given a hormone, which we call methyl testerone, a stable version of testerone in powder form. It is put in the feed and is given to the fish from day one to 30 when they have equal amounts of hormone in their bodies.”

He added that FARD was looking to stock dams with indigenous fish species to arrest the decline in fish populations for communities surrounding dams.

The Government’s initiative also aims to capitalise on the country’s abundant water resources and favourable climatic conditions for aquaculture, said Mr Makumbe.

He further highlighted that an increase in fish production was expected to ensure sustenance for millions of people, especially those living in rural communities.

Through partnerships with non-governmental organisations and the private sector, Zimbabwe is envisaged to boost fish production, he observed.

“The Government’s various dam projects across the country are set to spawn the growth of the fish industry in line with the current drive to promote maximum utilisation of natural water bodies, as the country moves to attain Vision 2030.

“The target is to restock dams and enable rural communities to exploit the water resources within their vicinities to create a self-sufficient and food surplus economy,” said Mr Makumbe.

Mr Makumbe further said the dam stocking scheme had the potential to meet and surpass fish demand in the country at the current per capita consumption of 3,2kg and would allow production potential to increase the per capita consumption rate to 13kg in Zimbabwe.

“We have allowed the formation of dam committees, which not only gives the community utilisation but monitored and sustainable utilisation of the resource,” said Mr Makumbe.

Recently, Government launched he US$500 000 Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) for fish breeding and production, which is set to produce a target of 3,92 million fingerlings per month.