Small Scale Fish Farming in Liberia: Accessibility and biochemical profiling of local feed ingredients

Depletion of marine fish stocks and need for global food security have fueled rapid growth of aquaculture systems. The sector is considered one of the fastest growing, such that in a span of 15 years from the year 2000, it had grown from 41,724,569.75 metric tons to 106,004,183.75 metric tons which is a whopping 154% growth. Despite such growth record, Africa as a continent only contributes 2% to the global yield. The limited adoption of aquaculture in the continent and poor productivity particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is underscored by several factors including; lack of poliy framework, weak supportive structures and infrastructures, inadequate management information and skills and poor quality feeds used by farmers. Therefore, this study was carried out to identify and map out the quality of the feeds adopted by Nile Tilapia farmers and their consequent on the yield in the six landlocked counties of Liberia: Bong, Lofa, Nimba, River Gee, Gbapolu, and Grande Gedeh. The study utilized multi-stage sampling, focus group discussions and feed sample collections which were subjected to nutrient proximate analysis. The findings indicate that gender plays a significant role in the management of the aquaculture systems and hence the whole farmed Nile Tilapia value chain. It was found that 82.6% of the ladies occupied the most labor demanding roles in production, however, 75.3% of the men owned the systems and dominated decision making regarding feed selection. Pond system of production has been adopted by 91% of the farmers. However, management practices employed did not provide conducive environment required for fish optimal production. Maize bran, wheat bran and soya cakes and other locally formulated feeds are the main feed sources used. The findings points out to inadequate feeding regimes practised by the farmers and poor management practices. Keywords: Aquaculture, fish farming, Liberia, local feeds, Nile Tilapia