Presentation of results from a smallholder fish farmer census conducted in Northern and Luapula provinces of Zambia by the Aquaculture Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Training for Improved Private Sector and Smallholder Skills Project in Zambia (AQ TEVET)

1. Smallholder Fish Farmers’ Population Census Report 2020:
Northern and Luapula Provinces, Zambia
2021 AQ TEVET Project Planning Meeting
Keagan Kakwasha, Netsayi Mudege, Mary Lundeba, Henry Kanyembo, Mercy
Sichone, Timothy Sichilima, Michael Sebele, and Libakeni Nabiwa
28th October 2020

2. Introduction and Background
• It was conducted from 2nd November 2018 to 30th
April 2019
• The main objective of the census was to provide
baseline data for the AQ TEVET project
• To understand the smallholder fish farming systems
as well as their geo-spatial distribution
• To updating the fish farmers’ registers and share with
our main stakeholder easy delivery of extension
services
• To develop maps to help the private sector in the
aquaculture industry (especially those linked to the
project) to develop business models that are
responsive to farmers needs and link farmers to
input and output markets.
• Farmer identification was done in consultation with DOF
and the farmers themselves (active and none-active
farmers)
• Electronic Questionnaire was used and pre-test was done
in Kasama District
• Five Districts in Northern Province (Mungwi, Luwingu,
Mpulngu, Mbala and Mporokoso)
• Four Districts in Luapula Province (Mansa, Samfya, Chipili
and Kawambwa)
• Data analysis was done in STATA version 16.0 and raw data
will be made open access by June 2021

3. Distribution of Smallholder Farmers
Percent Distribution of farmers, n=2,341

4. Distribution of Farmers by District

5. Gender, Marital Status and Age

6. Fish Farming Background

7. Gender and Youth Participation in Decision Making
Responsibility for land allocation for
pond construction
Male farmers
%
Female
farmers %
All active
farmers %
n=1,451 n=236 n=1,687
Male household head 68.2 17 61.1
Male household member 19.5 8.1 17.9
Both husband & wife 11.2 37.7 14.9
Female household head 0.4 26.7 4.1
Female household member 0.4 9.8 1.7
Not sure 0.1 0.4 0.2
Employee 0.1 0.4 0.1
Total 100 100 100

8. Fish Species Cultured
Fish Species Cultured
Number of
farmers Percent
Tilapia rendalli 664 39.5
Oreochromis macrochir 266 15.8
Oreochromis tanganicae 74 4.4
Oreochromis niloticus 38* 2.3
Tilapia sparmani 21 1.3
Oreochromis andersonii 9* 0.5
Oreochromis macrochir & Tilapia rendalli 390 23.2
Tilapia polyculture 215 12.8
Clarias gariepinus, T.sparmani &
O.macrochir 4 0.2
Total 1,681 100.0

9. Sources of Inputs

10. Fish Markets and Income
Gender Average income (ZMW) Std. Err.(±)
All farmers 1,263.3 101.8
Male farmers 1,273.6 109.3
Female farmers 1,194.6 281.4

11. Access to inputs

12. Challenges Faced by Smallholder Farmers
Challenges
Male active
farmers (%)
Female active
farmers (%)
All active farmers
(%)
n=1,451 n=236 n=1,687
No access to
fingerlings 51 35.2 48.8
No access to feed 35 44.9 36.4
Feed too expensive 4.3 5.5 4.5
No training 3.8 2.5 3.6
Fingerlings too
expensive 2.9 4.2 3.1
Other* 2.9 7.6 3.6
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0

13. Acknowledgments
• The project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
(Norad)-Agreement ZAM-18/0002, Aquaculture Technical, Vocational, and
Entrepreneurship Training for Improved Private Sector and Smallholder Skills.
• Provincial and District Fisheries Officers in the study sites, and the farmers
• This work will be undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Fish
Agri-Food Systems (FISH).