Ivory Coast: aqua culture expands

Eight provinces in the Ivory Coast practise aquaculture- Aboisso, Bandoukou, Bouake, Daloa, Gagnoa, Korhogo, Man and Touba. The number of fish farms has risen from nine in 1980 (136 ponds) to 946 in 1984. Two-thirds of these are nationally owned and onethird are foreign owned. There are 1,857 ponds, of which 656 are intensive, and they cover an area of 15,000 acres (150,000 square metres).

Ninety-one fish farms are assembled into six groups and use 131 ponds (8.4 hectares or 21 acres). The farm of Mabekaha, which is financed by the Ivory Coast's Agricultural Development Bank (BNDA) and the European Development Fund (EDF) consists of a group of sixty aquaculture centres of 8 hectares (19.7 acres) of ponds.

At the state station of Loka the production of young fish increased from 70,000 in 1981 to 520,000 in 1983. In 1984 aquaculture in the Ivory Coast produced 12 tonnes of fish.

A 4 ha (10 acres) pilot aquaculture farm for shell-fish will be set up in Assinie-Mafia, near to Abidjan. Over a period of two-and-a-half years (1985-1987) experiments will be carried out to assess the technical, biological and economic viability of breeding shell-fish.

In the Ivory Coast yields have stagnated at less than 100 tonnes of crayfish and 500 tonnes of shrimps per year, while potential annual fish production is around 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes of crayfish and 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of shrimps.

The total cost of the project is US $ 1.3 million. The EDF are giving US $ 750,000 for investment and (French Aid from the Ministry of Cooperation) will contribute US $ 500,000 in two instalments for construction and running costs. The Ivory Coast will contribute US $ 100,000.