Tilapia culture in Francophone Subsaharan Africa : current status and future prospects

A study conducted in 1989 and 1990 on aquaculture development in subSaharan Africa suggested a typology of the different farming systems using mainly tilapia as cultured species: (1) subsistence fish farming; (2) artisanal aquaculture as a small-scale commercial undertaking; (3) "segmented" aquaculture with specialized operators at each level of the production process; and (4) industrial aquaculture. For each of these types of aquaculture, the following major elements were analyzed: target populations, farming techniques, support/extension structure, financial and economic profiles, land use as well as credit and marketing aspects. This type of analysis was used to study aquaculture activities of relative importance that are part of development projects. The identification of the farming system, farm dynamics, including "postproject" evaluation, were all studied on the basis of concrete cases. This study illustrates, among other things, the constraints limiting the development of types 1 and 4 in terms of economic viability and reproducibility. The study also shows that sustainable aquaculture requires from the different partners professional skills which have often been lacking owing to the insufficient training of the fish farmers. Suggestions are offered for a more harmonious development of aquaculture on the African continent at the level of the governments, the funding agencies and the various operators involved in this activity. (Résumé d'auteur