Onavivi aquaculture achieves first successFish farm harvests a ton of tilapia A ton of fish was harvested at Ombandjele village near Outapi last week. The Onavivi Inland Aquaculture Centre has managed to produce successful fulltime small-scale fish farmers in all four northern regions since its establishment in 2004. The first tilapia farm is the Keumbo Fish Farming company, which according to the fisheries ministry has done very well. Last week the first harvest was made after the ponds were stocked in April.
Owned by the former Omusati regional councillor for the Outapi constituency, Tataati Shileka, the project was established in November last year at Ombandjele village outside Outapi. Shileka told Namibian Sun that he started the project to keep him busy in his retirement.
“When I was approaching retirement I started thinking of something that would keep me busy. I chose fish farming since our nation is faced with a shortage of food supplies and fish in particular. We have access to water in Omusati. I approached the Onavivi Inland Aquaculture Centre for advice where I was told to go ahead and they will give me technical support,” Shileka said.
The centre was established to offer technical and management support to small fish farmers. According to the chief fisheries biologist for the north-west regions and head of Onavivi, Elizabeth Ndivayele, the centre provides not only technical support but also fish feed and they offer to monitor the farmer''s progress.
“People in the region are interested in fish farming, but the challenge is that they are not taking fish farming seriously. With fish farming farmers need to be observant. The health of the fish can easily be impacted by water quality and feed. Water and feed inspections and control thereof need to be taken very seriously at all times,” Ndivayele said.
She said they have 36 registered fish farmers, but only Keumbo Fish Farming is operational throughout the year and is following the right fish farming procedures that achieved a best harvest. Other fish farmers are either seasonal or depend on rain water, or they are struggling to get their projects up and running. Keumbo has four ponds and when stocked in April it was established that they contain ten fish per square metre.
On 24 November they harvested 1.1 tons of tilapia which was all sold to members of the community. According to Ndivayele the harvested fish was of good quality and was harvested at the right time.
Shileka encourages everybody to plan for their retirement. “Today I am a fulltime fish farmer. During my working years I had plans and dreams, and now that I am in retirement it is my time to implement those plans and realise my dreams,” Shileka said.
ILENI NANDJATO