16 minute read
Africa
From tobacco to tilapia
On the shores of Lake Kariba, a family business has been farming tilapia for 38 years
BY WILLIAM LESCHEN
Keith Nicholson woke at 4am a� er a stormy night. There had been lightning over Lake Kariba, the world’s largest man-made lake, and he was concerned the storm might have aff ected the trip gear of the three-phase pumps which pump lake water to the lei pond supplying the farm. Sure enough, one had tripped from a power surge. He was able to quickly restore it and begin his day cleaning screens and fi rst-feeding the fi sh. It was an unusual start to the day on a farm he had started building back in 1983.
Keith began working in 1976 in Harare as a buyer for the tobacco in what was then Rhodesia, and is now Zimbabwe. By the early 1980s the country was changing, and a number of his friends involved in agriculture were leaving for countries like South Africa and Australia. In 1981, a� er ge� ng married, Keith and his wife travelled to Canada for an exploratory holiday where they found “a wonderful country” but – for Keith – it was far too cold to se� le!
While there, however, they visited a trout farm which started Keith thinking about possibili� es back home. In those days there was very li� le commercial � lapia aquaculture in Zimbabwe or across southern Africa. It was a species he knew li� le about. Pursuing the idea, Keith was advised to start by looking to rent or buy plots on vacant government land on the shores of Lake Kariba, which borders Zimbabwe and Zambia.
In early 1982 Keith travelled the 365km from Harare on his motorbike to view the undeveloped scrubland by the lakeside. He found an 11-hectare lake frontage plot at Chawara, with a further 3.2 hectares inland, which fi � ed the bill. Following a protracted bureaucra� c process including mul� ple visits to government offi ces in Harare and to Kariba council, by June 1983 Keith received a “rights to purchase land for fi sh farming” on an ini� al four-year lease.
The business was named “Kariba Bream Farm”. Tilapia are some� mes referred to as bream although they are diff erent, but related species.
Keith resigned his tobacco company job, his wife hers as a laboratory technician and they sold their house in Harare to start their new fi sh farming venture. The ini� al costs were substan� al: buying a Massey Ferguson tractor, three-phase pumps and 770 metres of pipeline to draw water from the lake. The most costly expense was connec� ng an electricity supply from 2km away. This took most of their ini� al capital, so Keith and his wife also took on a range of temporary jobs to supplement cash fl ow and further construc� on in the early years.
A feasibility study and surveyor’s report were carried out but did not persuade the bank manager to extend a further loan. This was fairly indica� ve of challenges faced by entrepreneurial people across Zimbabwe in those � mes. Instead, the farm was fi nanced stage by stage through part-� me incomes and farm sales reinvested straight back into the business. himself clearing and levelling the site. Then, o� en working from small photos of the Baobab Farm, he designed and then built the raceways, tanks and hatchery. The farm design allowed for convenient management and handling of the early fi ngerlings, and for the reuse of water and recycling of nutrients into two larger growout ponds.
Fresh infl owing supply water was pumped from the lei pond close to the lake through a piped ring main along the side of the farm and back down the middle, joining to the main line within a few metres of the pumps. Using this design Keith found he could get good pressure to all valves on each of the growout ponds. The ini� al tank water was then reused into two growout ponds before going back to the lake. These two ponds consistently produced the highest tonnage per annum across the farm due to be� er exchange rates, water quality and fer� lisa� on producing more constant green water. Water from all of the growout ponds then exited the farm via a central drain, reedbed, and fi nally through the local wetland. Over the years the Environmental Management Authority has monitored the quality of incoming and ou� lowing effl uent water on a quarterly basis.
Few people in Zimbabwe were involved in fi sh farming. Larger companies like Rio Tinto and Rothmans tried in the 1980s with � lapia, but failed. Keith visited early pioneers Tim and Nicola Fuller at Chirundu Bream Farm, to share experiences and exchange knowledge.
HATCHERY AND BROODSTOCK DEVELOPMENT INTO FINGERLING SALES
For their fi rst broodstock there were no Oreochromis niloti cus (Nile � lapia) available, so Keith brought in morti meri and macrochir from the nearby Hendersons Research Sta� on to produce a cross which was believed to perform be� er than the individual species. However, growth rates with these fi sh were not great. In 1987 Keith met Roger Pullin (then with ICLARM, the Interna� onal Centre for Living Aqua� c Resources Management) at a USAID conference who told him: “You won’t make any money unless you farm niloti cus!”
Keith applied to the ministry to import nilo� cus and through another local � lapia farmer (Bill Black at Mazunbuka) received his fi rst niloti cus which originated from S� rling University. In 1989 further niloti cus strains from Lake Turkana, Kenya, were imported. Due to a large fi ngerling order Keith decided to change from the Bamburi hatchery system to using incubators, trays and “hapas” (fi ne mesh net enclosures normally used for breeding � lapia and ongrowing fry). He quickly modifi ed his hatchery to use upturned water poultry drinkers which worked well as new incubators.
By the early 1990s Keith turned to all-male � lapia produc� on, following closely established wri� en protocols from the US and south Asia. The result was average weights at harvest increasing and fewer smaller fi sh, which were harder to sell. When Lake Harvest (a fi sh farm operator, now part of the African Century Foods Group) fi rst set up in the 1990s, the company used the original fi sh Keith had supplied to Cairns Foods, the original site owners, as broodstock. Keith also supplied them with further fi sh for itheir breeding programme.
While growth and fi nal harvest sizes from these stocks improved through the 1990s into 2000s, Keith was never 100% happy with the results. Between
FARM DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Clearing and construc� on began in June 1983. Keith met aquaculture expert John Balarin of the Baobab Farm in Kenya in the same year, along with Ron Evans from Henderson’s Agriculture Research Sta� on. He listened to their sugges� ons, sketching the design of the Bamburi hatchery on the back of a cigare� e packet; he then put together a layout design for the new farm. This included 12m X 8m diameter Bamburi hatchery tanks, the fi rst of six concrete raceways (6m X 1m X 0.5m), and 3 X 0.5-hectare ponds for growout constructed with the tractor and dam scoop.
Most of the ini� al construc� on work Keith did
Above: Sunset over Lake Kariba Opposite left: Teresa Mukaro, pictured feeding the juvenile fi sh, has worked on the farm and hatchery for 24 years Left: Kariba Bream Farm sign
2008-2010, through Randall Brumme� (then of WorldFish Centre), Lake Harvest reciprocated his earlier supply of broodstock from their own gene� c improvement programme. Keith found these new fi sh performed well, with good growth rates.
By 2013 the fi ngerlings market started to grow across Zimbabwe as more people became aware of the commercial poten� al of � lapia. Keith developed a customer base for fi ngerling sales to develop further farm incomes. By 2020 the hatchery was producing three million all-male and 300,000 mixed-sex fry/ fi ngerlings per annum to more than 200 customers all over Zimbabwe.
Keith plans to con� nue with the farm’s own gene� c improvement programme but has said he will take advice from Sco� sh-based gene� cs company Xelect on how best to further improve his exis� ng stocks, and poten� ally on whether there will be a need to import new gene� cs.
FINDING FISH FEEDS
In the early 1980s, livestock feed producers Agrifoods and Na� onal Foods were the fi rst feed used on the farm alongside trucked-in local slaughterhouse waste. Following formula� ons from Baobab Farm’s John Balarin, Keith bought a pelle� ser and for a few years they made their own on-farm (sinking) feed (around 30 tonnes per annum) using locally sourced maize, wheat bran, soya, co� onseed/sunfl ower seed cake, blood, meat and bone meal, and fi sh meal. This produced mixed results but at least the farm covered its costs.
By the early 2000s, access to raw materials was more diffi cult, with – for example – the supply of maize controlled by government. The � me, resources and labour required to produce the feed was also a challenge, and the farm was outgrowing its own supply. Keith started looking elsewhere for alterna� ves, and found a local crocodile farm which bought in dried feed from South Africa with a high percentage of crude protein including frozen mackerel, poultry meal, soya and premixed vitamins.
Each day the crocodile farm cleaned up uneaten feed (in wet form) from the pens which was collected and then used at Kariba Bream Farm for growout � lapia in the ponds and raceways. This feed produced regular and stable algal blooms – which the � lapia fed on – in the ponds without the need to buy organic or inorganic fer� lisers.
Meanwhile a new feed company, Profeeds, has been set up to supply Lake Harvest. This allowed Keith to purchase more specialised fry/broodstock feeds suited to the hatchery. These were expensive but they were formula� ons of good quality, which not only increased growth and survival rates for the fry/fi ngerlings, but also fecundity and produc� vity from the farm’s broodfi sh. In Keith’s words: “This new feed turned trumps for � lapia produc� on in Zimbabwe “.
The farm con� nues to this day to use both the crocodile waste feed and Profeeds, a combina� on Keith believes has been a proven model for helping his farm to develop.
Recently, interna� onal producers Skre� ng and Aller Aqua have both set up feed mills no more
Above: Aerial view of Kariba Bream Farm Below: Elephants also live around Lake Kariba
than 15km away across the Zambian border. Even so, the unstable Zimbabwean economy and resul� ng currency issues, Keith says, make short to medium term reliance on these op� ons unlikely.
He adds that in compara� ve pond trials, the crocodile feed and associated fer� lisa� on consistently outperform bought-in pelleted feed for the 1-50g stage in pond growout. The feed must however be used within 24 hours of collec� on from the crocodile farm.
Fingerlings are stocked from the hatchery at 1-5g, fi ve per cubic metre in ponds and then grown over a fi ve-month cycle to average harvest weights, currently 250g-350g on average. Produc� on is typically between 0.8-1.25kg per m³ (8.0-12.5 tonnes per hectare per cycle), two cycles per year: therefore around 16 tonnes or more per hectare per year, with the ponds a� er harvest limed and refi lled ready for the next fi ngerling cycle.
Keith says in general most of the ponds don’t have sil� ng up/residue issues using this feed, with fi sh diseases not being too much of a problem over the years. He is well aware, however, of new threats from viruses and bacterial pathogens as aquaculture intensifi es. The farm’s team also have to watch dissolved oxygen levels, especially during overcast days in the green ponds, and they now have aerators when necessary. Those feeding the fi sh must be careful and constantly vigilant at these � mes.
DEVELOPING MARKETS
In the early years the farm was, to a limited extent, compe� ng with lake wild fi sh catches of larger sizes, however the farm’s smaller fi sh (100-150g mor� meri x machrochir cross) proved popular with housewives with limited incomes who could put one fi sh per person on their tables.
According to Keith, the quality and freshness of fi sh emana� ng from the gill ne� ers of Lake Kariba and thrown on the fl oors of dinghies was poor. As he puts it: “In those days, wild caught � lapia especially didn’t have a good name in wider Harare or other main town markets.”
Keith set up a contract with a local food canning factory to take all of the farm’s produc� on, selling the smaller fi sh at around $2 per kg. They were processed and sold, either pickled or with tomato paste, in 125g small cans, 3-4 fi sh per can, to Harare supermarkets, shops and other major centres. This rela� onship lasted un� l 1995 and the na� onal Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, which meant that supermarkets were able to import much cheaper � nned mackerel and hake (at 70 cents per kg, half the price of farmed � lapia). Tilapia suddenly became much harder to sell and the local canning company closed this division.
The farm had to adapt to survive and by this � me was beginning to produce larger nilo� cus (250-350g) which were sold frozen in 10kg fl atpack boxes and transported via a refrigerated truck and the local small airport. New markets opened up in the late 1990s in tourist hotels around the Victoria Falls for frozen whole fi sh and fi llets, also airline catering, with the remaining frames sold locally.
In those days they got 27% dress-out weight to produce fi llets. Into the 2000s other contracts came with local Kariba wholesalers Irvine and Johnstone, who bought whole and then gu� ed, then with Crest Distribu� on who also sold poultry, dairy, milk products, both to sell across Harare and other peri-urban markets. With be� er growth rates, farm management, gene� cs, feed, average sizes increased to the present day when the farm sells basically three sizes: 120g-250g (small fi sh for the local market); 250g-350g, the most popular and the majority of the farm’s produc� on, for Harare and beyond; and fi sh above 350g which go to specialised buyers. Every Thursday the farm sends up to fi ve tonnes of (mainly) the 250-350g fi sh to Harare, in a refrigerated truck. Most are then sold and
Above: Ini� al equipment was expensive but it served the farm well over the following years Left: The Kariba farm layout Below: A crocodile farm Opposite: Tilapia
consumed in the capital, however a propor� on are resold then transported s� ll frozen to other parts of Zimbabwe. In more recent years Keith has developed on-farm recrea� onal angling and also small fi sh bait sales, which are popular with tourists, and pre COVID these were providing a signifi cant income stream.
Whilst never compe� ng with Lake Harvest, Keith says in early days there was some fric� on. Over � me as a company Lake Harvest has raised market profi le and sales prices of farmed � lapia across the country, and also brought quality fi sh feeds, and be� er gene� cs, which have benefi � ed fi sh farmers across Zimbabwe.
LOOKING BACK….. AND INTO THE FUTURE
Keith believes aquaculture is unlikely in future to grow signifi cantly for others within the country. While he believes that many rural farmers are interested in making money from aquaculture, Zimbabweans are tradi� onally not big fi sh eaters. There has been li� le thought by government or others, Keith argues, into how and where to market the product.
He adds: “We certainly could not compete pricewise in any of our neighbouring countries if we were to try and export. Feed costs are too high and there are few qualifi ed/experienced people to give sound advice.”
Keith remembers the early years and wishes to thank certain key people for their sound advice and support which saved him considerable � me and money. John Balarin for his openness and designs from his Kenyan experiences; Roger Pullin for his advice on broodstock; and Ron Evans who guided him with great enthusiasm to start the farm and helped him persevere, in spite of � mes when excessive bureaucracy made him feel like packing in the whole idea.
For the future of the farm he built and has run for 38 years, Keith says he is fortunate to have one of his sons, who also runs a safari business, now running the farm day-to-day and enjoying it. Keith says that in two to three years’ � me he will step aside completely.
What will he do then? He says: “I will stay on the farm, and I want to enjoy the local wildlife, pursue various hobbies, and also – Covid permi� ng – travel more widely.” FF
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