KMFRI Library Search for 'au:"Munguti, J.M" and se: African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development'

Aquaculture: A Promising solution for food insecurity, poverty and malnutrition in Kenya.

2016 , Food insecurity remains one of the most visible dimensions of poverty. The increasing population amid competition for land and water resources means that the global demand for food will continue to increase. In Kenya, the food insecurity trend is worrying as the population is expected to hit 55 million by 2020 against an annually declining arable land per capita and consequent increase in food prices. The Kenyan agricultural sector has failed to either eliminate or reduce malnourishment for poor populations as the annual national production for both staple food and livestock products fall short of national consumption levels. The nutritional deficiency levels remain high among a significant segment of the Kenyan population. With increasing food production challenges such as dwindling capture fisheries and impacts of climate change becoming more eminent, solutions to food insecurity and malnutrition in Kenya must bring about quick results in food availability by stimulating more own-food production. Aquaculture has so far been recognized as an important opportunity to enhance household food security in developing countries. The existing literature reveals scattered but increasing evidence of the contribution of aquaculture to nutritional security through direct fish consumption and income stability among vulnerable groups through involvement in aquaculture value chain linkages. This paper reveals the status of food insecurity, poverty and malnutrition problems and discusses aquaculture initiatives as the remedial solutions. This paper also provides a framework for examining aquaculture’s value chain linkages to food and nutritional security and national economic growth by elucidating key pathways concerning the role of aquaculture in household food and income systems. The authors advocate for clear and sustainable national policies for aquaculture development to address food insecurity and poverty questions more sharply. More empirical evidence should be collected on the varied aquaculture opportunities to improve the income, employment and food consumption levels within the poor households. 1684-5358

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Cost-Benefit Analysis and Growth Effects of Pelleted and Unpelleted On-Farm Feed on African Catfish (Claries Gariepinus Burchell 1822) in Earthen Ponds.

2013 , Fish feed constitutes 40-60% of the total operational costs of a fish farm. Commercial feeds are often too expensive for rural fish farmers. Consequently, farmers use non-conventional and locally available fish feed ingredients including agro-industrial by-products. These feeds have not led to increased pond productivity due to poor processing, higher fibre content, and anti-nutritional factors that limit nutrient bio-availability. Farmers have not embraced processing of fish feeds because the cost-effectiveness of processing has not been clearly demonstrated. The African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is an important farmed fish in sub-Saharan Africa hence the need for research on its nutrition and growth performance. The growth performance and cost-benefit of using pelleted diets formulated from locally available feed ingredients on C. gariepinus were evaluated in a rural African setting. The experiment included diets that differed in the ingredients and form used (pelleted and un-pelleted). Four isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were formulated from freshwater shrimp (Caridina nilotica), rice bran (Oryza sativa) and wheat bran (Triticum aestivum). The diets were C. nilotica and wheat bran pelleted (CWBp), C. nilotica and wheat bran un-pelleted (CWBup), C. nilotica and rice bran pelleted (CRBp), and C. nilotica and rice bran un-pelleted (CRBup). The diets were fed to C. gariepinus fingerlings (mean initial weight 1.75±0.03g), in triplicates for 5 months. The pelleted diets showed significantly better performance (P<0.05) compared to the un-pelleted diets. Fish grew to a weight of 266.77±6.21g on CWBp, 224.9±3.91g on CRBp, 211.38±4.46g on CWBup and 190.87±4.47g on CRBup. Cost benefit analysis of the pelleted and un-pelleted diets indicated positive net returns of US$ 180.1 for CWBp, US$142.5 for CRBp, US$ 126.8 for CWBup and US$ 115.5 for CRBup. The CWBp had significantly higher net returns than the other diets. This paper demonstrates that although on-farm pelleting of diets adds extra cost of labour, pelleted diets are cost-effective and should be incorporated as an essential part of on-farm feed production.

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Can Integrated Livestock-Fish Culture be a Solution to East Afircan's Food Insecurity? A Review.

2016 , Integrated livestock-fish culture approach envisages the integration of fish farming with cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, pigs or rabbit husbandry in a design allowing wastes from one system to be used as inputs in another system. The aim is to conserve resources while increasing farm returns. This paper reviews integrated livestock-fish culture in Asia and some African countries towards stimulating growth in East Africa’s livestock-fish integration practices. Livelihood challenges and current status of integrated livestock-fish culture in some segments of East Africa are discussed. Economic analyses of integrated livestock-fish farming in selected places are presented. Challenges facing integrated livestock-fish aquaculture in the region include: government neglect of aquaculture sector, weak aquaculture research and applications, political interferences as well as social and religious challenges. Poor publicity, poor infrastructure, lack of clear legislations and policies and high illiteracy among potential fish farmers have also been mentioned as bottlenecks to the growth of integrated fish farming in the region. So far, fish-poultry integration is the most popular across Africa and Asia while fish-cattle integration is unpopular in many countries. Livestock manure as source of organic fertilizer for fish ponds and biogas production can help reduce cost of investment in purchasing inorganic fertilizers. With the present high cost of pelleted fish feeds, integrated fish farming stands to reduce the cost of feeding fish while simultaneously increasing the yield, leading to high economic returns. This paper concludes that livestock-fish integration is one of the most practicable solutions to food insecurity and malnutrition in the East African community despite its current poor status. In fact, it could be the forgotten asset that can guarantee present and future aquaculture sustainability in the region. The paper recommends capacity building among stakeholders to recognise integrated aquaculture as a ‘self feeding’ biotechnology unit, which deserves special attention in East Africa.

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