TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR FINGERLING PRODUCTION SERVING SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SCALE TILAPIA PRODUCERS

A central issue for aquacultural development in Honduras is fingerling supply. Previous PD/A CRSP research reported that farmers in remote places found that fingerlings were difficult to obtain but did not consider this sufficient reason for withdrawing from fish farming. The Zamorano principal investigator and his technician in this project confirmed that the Comayagua research station El Carao was not a reliable supplier of fingerlings for area producers. Private fingerling producers are few and generally geared to supply large-scale commercial operations. The overriding objective of activity 9ADR9 was to provide technical assistance and training to current and potential fingerling suppliers to smalland medium-scale tilapia producers in Honduras. A Peace Corps program of technical support to fish farmers was possibly the most focused on-farm assistance to small-scale fish farmers in Honduras, but this program ended in 1995. The national extension program in aquaculture has a presence in many regions, but the effort is fragmented and underfunded. A number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been active in rural development, including several active fish farming projects, but expertise in this activity is often insufficient to provide critical technical information required for productive pond management. In November 1999 we consulted with 13 representatives of national and international, government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). From these consultations a strategy and timetable were developed for implementing technical assistance and training for fingerling suppliers and technicians working with NGOs currently or potentially involved in smalland medium-scale fish culture development. At least 33 smalland medium-scale tilapia producers (each with 150 to 12,000 m2 of water surface) and 26 restaurants were subsequently interviewed to assess the production and marketing demands for tilapia in Honduras. With the collaboration of a local NGO, representatives of NGOs with actual or potential interest in aquaculture development were invited to a one-day seminar to describe opportunities and constraints for family-scale fish culture in Honduras. The Zamorano team continues to identify and provide technical assistance to regional fingerling producers and organizations involved in aquaculture extension. During the life of this activity, three technical workshops were provided for actual and prospective fingerling producers and extensionists. More than 30 publications on fingerling production and pond management practices have been incorporated in a web-based information system developed by a local NGO, primarily in response to the needs of local NGOs. NINETEENTH ANNUAL TECHNICAL REPORT 190 culture development projects involving family-scale fish culture in Central America, where aquaculture is not well established, emphasized that such development projects require many years of effort before fish farming becomes a stable agricultural activity (Castillo et al., 1992; Lovshin et al., 2000). Interruptions in the development process have often led to disillusionment and a generalized rejection of fish culture by participants. Given the relatively short horizon of our project, we concluded that we must work collaboratively with local organizations with long-term vision and commitment to development. The second objective of this activity was to identify the NGOs and agencies interested in incorporating small-scale fish farming in their development programs and then to provide technical assistance and training to their field staff. METHODS AND MATERIALS