A Fishy Plan

Fish arriving and being counted as we put them in the basin.
Behind are the moringa trees starting to grow tall.

We have fish! Raising fish has always been interesting to me in this desert nation because it’s clear that it’s not something every business person can do. But, there is a demand for fish and they are so nutritious. So, it seems like it should be a great opportunity and business if we can find sustainable ways to do it.

Background: We were given ideas at our CHE training in Kenya for how fish farming can get the best out of the resources available to a farmer, when the water is double used for irrigation and then naturally has fertilizer loaded in it. Bringing it back to our context has been difficult, but we have found some help from people in a nearby community where the government established a big irrigation program and so people have enough water to try things like this. 

The protective screens over the fish basin to keep out debris
which children might throw or from nearby acrid tree leaves.

Preparations: To show it can be done on a relatively small scale with careful supervision, we started to prepare a site at our partner church’s national headquarters. They had a medium sized basin built for 4,000 L of water. We estimate that it could comfortably hold about 400 fish of 1 kilogram each. We fenced off a 10x20 yard garden and planted nutritious and lucrative moringa trees in rows for the fish water to pour out on. The water situation proved trickier than we hoped as the sufficient and economical water available from the city water provider does have chlorine put in it.  So we had to change plans for our supply. Eventually, the church had a surprisingly inexpensive bore-hole placed near the basin, which will also provide water for the rest of the compound and help cut church operating costs.

Do you see fish?  And fish food?

Fish Stats: We now have bought 500 fingerlings (that was the smallest batch we could get) at close to 50 cents each, but about 30 of them died from transport from a neighboring country. They are a species of catfish that are whitish and apparently grow fairly quickly. Initially we were told that it would take around 6 months for the fish to grow over 1 kilo each for selling, but now we’ve heard that this species can do that in less time, so some might reach that size in 3 months. We feed them three times a day with food brought in from a neighboring country as well. The water of the basin needs to be emptied every four days to keep it clean enough, and to irrigate the surrounding garden with nutrient rich water.

Vision: The vision for the “fish farming” is to use this business at the church’s Bible schools, which are always short of income and the students always short of food. But, they have lots of space and can grow great gardens with irrigation. Eventually, we would like to help evangelists do it on small scale in their own towns for nutrition and income as well.

-- El Padre