Integrated aquaculture-agriculture: Fish culture and plant crops module for arid areas

This guide explains the integration between fish culture and conventional crop agriculture and discusses how farmers can maximize benefits from using these resources. The main concept for any system of integration is that the outputs of one organism or system function as a source of inputs for another organism or system. For fish farmers, this concept applies to the relationship between fish and crops, as theoutputs of the fish can be a rich source of nutrients for crops

Strengthening rural livelihoods in Ghana and Nigeria through small-scale cage aquaculture: The ProSCAWA project

Promoting Sustainable Cage Aquaculture in West Africa (ProSCAWA) project is to empower and transform the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in West Africa through enhanced Sino-Afro application of knowledge, sustainable technologies, and expertise in cage aquaculture

Good practices for preprocessing and cooking farmed fish

Fish is an important food for human consumption. Because of its high nutritional value, it can treat diseases caused by malnutrition, and it is especially suitable for children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. More than one billion people around the world get their animal protein requirements from fish, which also contains minerals like phosphorous, iodine, calcium, magnesium and sulfur. In addition, there are a number of important fat-soluble vitamins in fish oil, including vitamins A and D. Fish oils are high in unsaturated fatty acids, especially omega-3, which helps reduce cholesterol. Yet despite being highly nutritious, fish is difficult to process and spoils easily. This is why proper processing methods are so important, as they help preserve fish, prolong its shelf life and produce new products that consumers prefer. Fish processing also engages more women and youths in aquaculture activities, which improves their income. This manual was prepared through the Advancing Climate Smart Aquaculture Technologies (ACliSAT) project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. WorldFish is implementing the project in partnership with the Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research in Egypt, Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia and the Ministry of Marine Resources in Eritrea

Serological, hematological, Biochemical and Oxidative Markers During Foot and Mouth Disease Serotype ‘O’ Infection, Egypt

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is an extremely grave communicable disease of livestock. It affects all wild and domestic animals with cloven hoof. It is caused by Aphtho virus (Apthous fever) or (FMDV) foot and mouth disease virus which is originated from family Picornaviridae. 30 adult female water buffaloes, 3-5 years old infected with FMD serotypes, O. These animals were located at Sharkia governorate, Egypt during the period beetwen December 2014 to March 2015. Hematological findings showed no significant change in erythrogram and reduction in total leukocytes in the early stage of FMDV infection. Moreover development of macrocytic normochromic anemia and increase in total leukocytes and lymphocytic counts was reported in the late stage of infection. A significant decrease in cholesterol , progesterone , total proteins, albumin , globulins, calcium and sodium levels in infected groups, while a significant increase in serum activities of ALT ,AST, glucose, total, direct ,indirect bilirubine, phosphorous potassium, NO. MDA, CK-MB, LDH and CTNI. Without alterations in creatinine level

Best Management Practices guidelines for small scale tilapia cage aquaculture in Ghana and Nigeria

Africa accounts for about 7% of the world’s total fish production (FAO 2020). Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), a native of Africa, is the third-most farmed fish species in the world (FAO 2020) and is consumed worldwide (Asiedu et al. 2015). Because of market demand and the availability of suitable water bodies, Nigeria and Ghana have enormous potential for tilapia aquaculture, particularly in cages (Njoku et al. 2022). Cage aquaculture refers to rearing captive fish within a floating enclosure in a water body. Typically, the enclosure is encircled on all sides, with mesh netting that corresponds to the size of the fish in the cage. Floats keep the cage buoyant, sinkers at the base of the cage keep the water column stable, an anchor system is used for mooring, and walkways are used to maneuver around the cage. Cage aquaculture has several advantages over other forms of conventional aquaculture. The velocity of the water flowing through and past the cages flushes out waste, allowing more fingerlings to be stocked than in ponds. The enclosed nature reduces the risk of predation by animals such as birds (fish eagles, cormorants and kingfishers, among others), snakes, monitor lizards and crocodiles. Harvesting fish from cages is also relatively easier. However, a significant issue with small-scale fish farmers in Africa has been the lack of adequate training and well-trained staff to operate such farms and the limited availability of extension services to assist distressed farmers.In addition, most farmers have jumped on the bandwagon because of promises of enormous profits and hearsay without proper planning or preparation, resulting in losses and failed businesses. A farmer can incur significant losses because of poor management practices that result in overstocking, escapes, poor water quality, overfeeding, negligent security, disease outbreaks and inadequate recordkeeping. More than ever, the recent boom in the sector means that training is needed to apply the best principles in farm management and help mitigate losses to farmers. The remaining sections in this manual lay out the guidelines for best management practices for your tilapia cage aquaculture venture

Best management practices for commercial tilapia reproduction in Northeast Africa

Tilapia hatcheries are the most common type of fish hatchery in Egypt, as well as many other countries globally. Their success has helped supply fish farms with quality tilapia seed, which in turn has increased farmed fish production in many parts of the world. With the fish farming industry growing so quickly, however, tilapia hatcheries must improve the quality of their seed production for fish farmers to maintain their profit margins. To this end, these guidelines document the most optimal, locally appropriate, management practices for culturing Nile tilapia. There are currently three hatchery systems in use in Egypt for Nile tilapia: (1) concrete tanks with a water-heating system, (2) hapas under plastic tarps and (3) hapas in open ponds. Observing the best management practices (BMPs) in these guidelines will increase productivity in hatcheries and produce highly vigorous and uniform fry that are free from disease and malformations. In this way, hatcheries will be better placed to meet the demand among fish farmers in the country for high quality tilapia fry and fingerlings

Prospects of fish supply-demand and its implications for food and nutrition security in Egypt

Aquaculture plays an increasingly important role in meeting the rising global demand for fish fuelled by economic and demographic growth. However, in many middle-income countries, aquaculture is constrained by rising labour costs, limited input supply, environmental concerns, and infectious diseases. In this paper, we developed a multi-species, multi-sector equilibrium model and applied it to the fishery sector of Egypt, a leading aquaculture producer in Africa, to examine these barriers. Projection results show that rising wage rates would slow down the growth of labour-intensive aquaculture compared to those that use relatively less labour. The demand for feed, seed inputs and water use for aquaculture would substantially increase. The results also show that disease outbreaks would possibly affect production sectors via output reduction and also consumers via increases in fish price. Our findings suggest that stabilising the prices of feed and seed, investments in disease control and input-use efficiency improvement technologies, including water use, are important while the overall effectiveness of tax instruments is modest. Though calibrated to Egypt, our approach can be applied to other middle-size national aquaculture industries

WP 4: Integrated food, land, water and energy systems for climate resilient landscapes

From Fragility to Resilience in Central and West Asia and North Africa (F2R CWANA) WP 4: Integrated food, land, water, and energy systems for climate-resilient landscapes Inception Workshop Morocco May 17, 2022