Parents aspiration and youth perception to sustainable fisheries development in Kainji Lake basin

Artisanal fisheries development in Nigeria, like in any other developing country of the world is characterized by subsistence level of operation using dugout canoe and paddle. This implies that parents and children constituted the labour in use since they only struggle for the upkeep of the family. A total of 240 questionnaires were used to solicit information from the respondents. This total was divided into 120 each for both parents and the youths respectively. Simple descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages were used to analyze their responses. Parents have strong aspiration for their children to succeed them hence, 78.3% of the parents expressed their aspiration for succession by the younger ones while 83.3% of parents tend to support their aspiration with persuasive strategies such as allowing their children to partake in fishing activities at will. On the part of the youth over 70% of them perceived fishing as a viable business where they can succeed their parents provided government can come to their aid in form of active involvement in the development of rural fisheries. It is therefore believed that fisheries development could achieve rapid improvement if the aspiration of the parents is balanced with perception of the youth and the government meets their expectation

Aquaculture research: technology transfer for rural development in Nigeria

Conventional aquaculture has been promoted in Nigeria for the past five decades with minimal impact on rural communities: from the findings of Maclearen (1949) where he popularized the use of culturable fish predators Lutjanus sp; Pomades sp; Tarpon adanticus; Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus in earthen ponds near Onikan-Lagos, Nigeria; to the finding of Zwilling, 1963, who reported common carp, Cyprinus carpio propagation and culture in Panyan Fish Farm, near Jos; to the findings of FAO, 1965, when the potential culture of marine mullets culture in brackish water ponds in Buguma, Rivers State was presented. The work of other researchers Sivalingam, (1970; 1973), Ezenwa (1976), development officers and extension officers contributed to the development of aquaculture in few rural areas of the country and informed on public and private owned fish farm infrastructures. Despite a moderate long history of aquaculture research and development in Nigeria, an annual production level of 25,000 metric tons was recorded in 1999. This situation calls for a more sustainable approach for a stronger link between aquaculture research and technology transfer for the development of rural communities of Nigeria. This paper therefore examines some of the issues involved in the continuous flow of the new aquaculture technology in the improvement of fish protein output, standard of living of rural farmers and prevention of urban migration by the youth

Year 1 operational report: Improving employment and income through development of Egypt’s aquaculture sector(IEIDEAS) project

Implementation of the SDC funded project ‘Improving Employment and Income through Development of Egypt’s Aquaculture Sector’ commenced on 1st December 2011 and will continue until late 2014. This report summarizes the results of the first 10 months until 30th September 2012. The project was based on a value chain analysis carried out by WorldFish in September 2011. The information in the VCA acts as the baseline for the main project parameters. It established that the aquaculture value chain is a significant employer (14 FTE per 100 tonnes of annual production), particularly in rural areas and there was scope to increase employment of youth and women.

Improving Employment and Income through Development of Egypt’s Aquaculture Sector (IEIDEAS) project

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)-funded Improving Employment and Income through Development of Egypt’s Aquaculture Sector (IEIDEAS) project was implemented by WorldFish in partnership with CARE Egypt and the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation from 2011 to 2014 and later extended to November 2015. The project focused on four governorates with significant aquaculture production (Kafr El Sheikh, Behera, Sharkia and Fayoum) and one governorate (El Mineya), where aquaculture was a new activity. The project was based on a value chain analysis conducted by WorldFish in September 2011 that identified the aquaculture value chain as a significant employer, particularly in rural areas. The analysis suggested that there was scope to increase employment of youth and women in the aquaculture sector The main objective was to increase aquaculture production by 10% and create 10,000 jobs. Other objectives included improving profitability for existing producers, securing employment for women fish retailers, expanding aquaculture in El Mineya and improving the policy environment for aquaculture.