Photo credit: Spriano Mpango and Thokozire Gwaza (Malawi)
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The inserted picture shows the digging of a small fish pond by a group of women in Malawi. In fact, there have been several programs in Malawi which are supported by the government as well as by NGOs that promote small-scale aquaculture especially among the families with little resources with a special emphasis on female-headed households. This approach has been implemented through either fish farming clubs or similar fish farming groups.
As expected, a small pond like the one shown in the picture should be manually constructed as the use of machinery is usually not possible and/or not justified.
In dry regions, most small ponds are rain-fed constructed on the land as long as the soil is suitable for retaining water.
A small pond as such is usually used to grow the popular fish to the community such as “chambo” which is a tilapia species (Oreochromis lidole) and African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). This type of ponds is valuable towards addressing nutritional deficiencies at household level in rural communities.
