HOW EXTENSION SERVICES HAVE IMPACTED ON THE GROWTH OF AQUACULTURE IN KASEMPA DISTRICT OF NORTH WESTERN-ZAMBIA

A study was conducted in Kasempa district with the aim of determining the impact that extension services had on the growth of Aquaculture in North-Western province of Zambia. Questionnaires were administered to 55 randomly selected fish farmers (using simple random sampling method) in five areas within the district, to measure the effectiveness of Aquaculture extension services, to ascertain how well policies and plans were being carried out. An equally important measure was to determine the extent to which incomes and living standards of the rural people had increased as a result of extension service provision. In this study, it was evident that lack of adequate information to farmers can have a negative impact on the growth of the aquaculture sector. Inadequate extension services can equally result in poor quality and quantity of Aquaculture products (fish) produced. Currently, aquaculture was being promoted in Zambia to provide opportunities for increased incomes for the rural poor as well as to help reduce pressure on capture fisheries. Through extension services, 90% of the respondents had acquired technical skills such as fish husbandry practices, pond construction, fish health and nutrition, feeding and marketing and record keeping skills, which helped them in mitigating various challenges they faced to ensure smooth operation processes. Accordingly, 82% of the respondents experienced an increase in fish yield, which was attributed to the increase in the number of ponds they owned. Results further indicated that 65% of the respondents’ improved their social well-being, which enabled them to generate enough income from aquaculture to be able to solve various challenges (that included paying children’s’ school fees, buying roofing sheets for their houses, feeding their families, paying-back their debts, etc.) they faced. Overall, the extension service agencies’ performance in implementing policies and plans was considered to be good. However, more than half of the respondents experienced a number of challenges (i.e. lack of start-up capital, blocked canals, stunted fish growth, lack of harvesting equipment and piscivore attacks) that hindered further growth of aquaculture. Based on the study, 60% of the respondents were unable to raise fish up-to marketable size of more than 250 g (> 250 g) due to high costs of feed, while 40% of them were able to produce fish close to market size because they appeared to be much more knowledgeable and had interest in the sector.