Video credit: Elie Badai (Cameroon)
Description: Abdel Rahman El Gamal
The video shows the farming of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in integration with other agriculture crops of vegetables and fruits. The farm is located in Ismaelia governorate. This farm could serve a model of catfish farm especially the national strategy targets to enhance the contribution of native fish species in Egyptian aquaculture. The farm shows the fingerlings and the market size of the species. The existence of aerators as well as the feeding activity of market size catfish indicates the intensification level of catfish farming in this particular farm. One may notice some of vegetables on the farm (e.g. eggplant) as well as the palm trees; there are more crops that are not shown in the video. There are also pigeon houses on the farm. The classic integration takes place as fertile water discharged from fish ponds goes to agriculture crops.
Marketing of African catfish caught from the wild has faced some difficulties as many of consumers believe that catfish fish could tolerate the deteriorated water quality which could affect its quality. Therefore, expanding the culture of African catfish as well as labeling farm-raised fish is expected to change the image of catfish to consumers and hence to promote further development of African catfish culture.
