Fishpond Management Practices and Nutritive Value of Local Feed Ingredients Used by Fish Farmers in Kilombero District, Tanzania

A survey was carried out in Kilombero district, Tanzania to collect information on feed ingredients used, fish farming practices and challenges faced by farmers. In addition, the nutritive values of the feed ingredients was determined. The survey was conducted in 12 wards and 10 fish farmers from each ward were selected randomly from a list of all small-scale fish farmers. The heads of the households were interviewed using a structured questionnaire designed to collect information on the socio-economic characteristics, number of ponds per household and their sizes, source of water, fish species cultured, fish management practices, types of feed ingredients used, feeding methods, forms of feed used, feeding frequency, source of fingerlings and division of labour. Furthermore, information on problems faced by fish farmers were gathered. Feed samples (100 samples) of the ingredients used by farmers to feed fish were collected and analyzed for chemical composition. Result revealed that most fish farms were owned by men (92%). The most common fish farming infrastructure was earthen ponds, while monoculture of Nile tilapia was the dominant fish farming practice. The majority of the farmers (50%) fertilized their ponds with cattle manure. More than 95% of the respondents used locally available feed ingredients as the main feed supplement, with maize bran and rice polishing being the most widely used feed ingredients either singly or in combination. The crude protein levels of maize bran and rice polishing ranged from 11.23 to 17.34% and 11.03 to12.48% respectively, whereas crude fat content was 1.11 - 8.24% for maize bran and 0.88 - 5.69% for rice polishing. The major problems for Nile tilapia farming were lack of fish farming knowledge, predation and unavailability of high quality diets. It is concluded that small-scale fish farming in Kilombero district is done mostly by men, characterized by low productivity due to improper feed formulation and feeding.