The Project
"Ich
liebe Fisch"
Some fish, some maize, "nsima",
and some vegetables...could be so easy to have a
complete and healthy dish for Malawian folks...
Traditionally, Malawi is a fish
eating nation. However, what is left on the table is
mainly maize. Although Malawi is blessed with the
ninth largest lake in the world and the third
largest and second deepest lake in Africa,
overfishing resulted in the collapse of the tilapia
fishery in the lake since the beginning of the 90th.
Tilapia, known locally as chambo, is the country’s
favorite fish. Owing to the Chambo scarcity on the
market, its wholesale price has risen from 2.5
Malawian Kwacha per kilo in the early 1990s to 130
Malawian Kwacha per kilo in 2002. Today, the price
has reached more than US$ 4.00-8.00/kg per kilo which is hardly
affordable to the most Malawian people.
Aquaculture is one of the
measures to provide more Chambo for the table and
the market, however, the production in the country
is still small and not efficient. One of the issues
is the unreliable supply of fingerlings for
ongrowing farms.
Thus, one of the major tasks of
the project which is being introduced at this
website is to establish methods which support the
stable supply of viable fingerlings to farmers which
want to grow fish for food and for the market. In
combination with the introduction of Aquaponics and
efficient application of integrated
agriculture-aquaculture (IAA) the
goal to have more fish and vegetables available as a
healthy enrichment of the popular maize dishes
can become accessible.
Aquaponics is the combination of
aquaculture (i.e. raising fish) and hydroponics (the
soil-less growing of plants) that grows fish and plants together
in one integrated system. The vegetables make use of
the nutrients which are defecated from the fish.
Aquaponics uses only about a tenth of the water of
soil-based gardening and helps to save water which
is specifically important in countries like Malawi,
which relies to large extent on rain-fed agri- and
aquaculture.
To tackle the above mentioned
issues, a project was launched under the project
call "Diversified agriculture for
a balanced nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa".
This research project in
Malawi is supported from
the German
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
in the context of research cooperation for global
food security with the following
title:
"Improving Community Health-Nutrition Linkages through Solar Energy Based Fish and Crop Integrated Value Chains"
Welcome at our "Ich
liebe Fisch"-project website
This site is dedicated to inform about the background of the
project and to report about progress and results and to support the communication among the project teams
in Malawi and Germany.
The project focuses on research and linking of several aspects along the value chain of sustainable aquaculture of Oreochromis karongae, a favoured and high quality source of protein for human nutrition. In the context of these measures, an innovative linkage of fish and crop production in integrated aquatic systems (classical integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems, IAA and aquaponics) will allow enhanced productivity and thus an optimized nutritional and socio-economic status of smallholder farmers in rural areas of Malawi adopting these techniques.
The project will improve the reliable supply with fry of a high valued endemic fish species in combination with the introduction of aquaponics and integrated agriculture-aquaculture production methods. The results of the project will be directly used to improve the sustainable access to high valued fish protein, crops and vegetables for rural communities, specifically smallholder farmers with aquaculture facilities. Consequently, the project aims to improve nutritional condition, health and income levels of the targeted population.
Latest project activities
(chronological order, earliest activities on
top)
Fish selection. Currently, there are
three tilapia species being farmed in Malawi: Oreochromis shiranus,
Oreochromis karongae and Tilapia rendalli....
➦ Read more
Kick-off meeting
in Lilongwe. In July, the Kick-Off meeting for
the project "Ich liebe Fisch" was successfully
conducted...
➦ Read more
Farm visit in Malawi.
In order to get some insights into
Malawi farm operations including aquaculture, a
model-like farm was visited....
➦ Read more
Site selection. Field
trips were organized to Mchinji
and to Nkhotakota district
to identify and inspect possible project sites and communities...
➦ Read more
IAA-Training Courses conducted.
Training courses for 285 fish farmers in
Nkhotakotandand MchinjiistrictsDistricts conducted...
➦ Read more
Monitoring
Activities. Following pond stocking on in May 2017 in
Nkhotakota and Mchinji respectivel,, three field visits (onceerper
month)) have been conducted...
➦ Read
more
Training in fish harvesting, food
processing, and marketing. The training sessions were
conducted in Nkhotakota and in Mchinji... ➦
Read more
German Team
visited the Project in November/December 2017.
The German team travelled to Malawi from end of
Nov./Dec. 2017...
➦ Read more
Container arrived at
Bunda College. The
container with the hatchery, photovoltaic facility and
many other equipment finally arrived...
➦ Read more
Pond inspection February 2018. A
trip was organized to the participating communities in
the districts of Nkhotakota and Mchinji in
February 2018 for pond inspections...
➦ Read more
Solar
powered Hatchery successfully assembled at Bunda
College. The
German team travelled to Malawi in spring 2018 in
order to set up a solar powered hatchery on the
ground of the farm of the Bunda colleage...
➦ Read more
Two Masters students
in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science were being hosted
by two German research institutions. Under
a sponsored exchange visit by the project "Ich liebe
Fisch"...
➦ Read more
The Malawian coordinator of the "Ich
liebe Fisch" project visited the German partner. A
project meeting among the Malawian and the German coordinator was
organized In Germany at the EMB and GMA from 29 July to 6. August
2018 ..
➦ Read more
Two German project
partner visited the "Ich liebe Fisch" project in
Lilongwe in November 2018. The purpose
of this visit was mainly dedicated to fix some
issues with the solar powered hatchery and to
accomplish a training course in molecular biology
and Cryopreservation...
➦ Read more
The solar powered
hatchery of the project "Ich liebe Fisch" made it to
the cover story in the Hatcheryfeed magazine. The
volume 6, issue 4 of the Hatcheryfeed Magazine
featured an article about the solar powered
hatchery...
➦ Read more
"Ich liebe Fisch" project calendar
2019 available as download (pdf, ~20Mb). Please download
from this link
➦ Project Calendar 2019
Training course
on solar powered hatchery operation accomplished,
12th-14th of March 2019. A
full 3-days training course on solar powered
hatchery operation was accomplished at the Bunda
campus farm. Fish farmer, technicians
participated...
➦ Read more
Third campaign on
tilapia fingerlings and feed delivery started in March
2019. The project has started the third times
to deliver fingerlings and feed to the communities
which are participating in the "Ich liebe Fisch"-project...
➦ Read more
Aquaponic unit assembled at the
Bunda Campus farm. In addition to the barrelponics system
which was build and tested in the project, a larger Aquaponic unit
was planned and constructed on the farm of the Bunda Campus...
➦ Read more
Nkhotakotas
farmers on educational visit. The
training was organized for educational and
motivational purposes to improve the farming
operations of the farmers under the project...
➦ Read more
The "Ich liebe Fisch"
project was presenting the hatchery technology at the
10th Büsumer Fischtag (07.06.2019). Title of
the presentation: "Implementierung moderner Methoden
zur Satzfischaufzucht in Malawi – wie geht das?"
➦ Download the presentation (in German)
Clay pebble production as
substrate for Aquaponic facilities established. Due to
unavailability of industrially produced clay pebbles in
Malawi, necessary as growing medium for the plants in aquaponic
units, the project established a production of pebbles...
➦ Read more
Project extension on the pilot production of
insect proteins in Malawi approved.
Insect proteins, produced from maggots of the
black soldier fly are a promising approach to
overcome the poor fish feed quality of rural
farmers...
➦ Read more
The
administrative officer of the
The Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE,
Germany),
Ms Ariana Bystry, has visited the "Ich liebe
Fisch" Project" in Malawi end of September
2019...
➦ Read more
Time to harvest fish. The grow-out periode was ending in September to
October. The fingerlings which were stocked in
February and March in spring 2019 were ready to be
harvested...
➦ Read more
"Ich liebe Fisch"
project calendar 2020 available as download (pdf, ~20Mb).
Please download from
the news site:
➦ Project Calendar 2020
The
German project coordinator have visited the project
partner "Hermetia" in February. in order to
prepare the internship of two Malawian students in the
company...
➦ Read more
The
German partner have shipped the hardware for the
insect protein pilot production plant.
In order to be able to start quickly, all the
necessary basic equipment was purchased from the
German partner and shipped to Lilonge.
➦ Read more
The
Aquafish project from Bunda College adopted the "Ich Liebe Fisch" clay pebbles production method
and ordered about 7 cubic meters for
the Bunda system....
➦ Read more
The
"Ich Liebe Fisch" was nominated for the
Fraunhofer-Alumni-Award "TECHNOLOGY
4DEVELOPMENT". The project is nominated among 4
other projects which care about research &
development in developing countries...
➦ Read more
Training course
on BSF propagation accomplished, 28th -
30th of April 2021.
A full 3-days training course
on the propagation of the Black Soldier fly accomplished at the Bunda
campus farm. Fish farmer, extension officer
participated...
➦ Read more
A solar heater demo was constructed from the
project partner GMA. The heater will be
tested in the aquaponic unit of the project in the
Benga Parish ...
➦ Read more
Two malawian master students accomplish an
internship at Hermetia, a
professional insect production plant in Baruth.
Hermetia is partner from the "Ich liebe Fisch"-project...
➦ Read more
The
Greenhouse for the BSF production was
successfully assembled at the Bunda College farm.
The greenhouse which
is dedicated as mating house for BSF was
constructed....
➦ Read more
"Ich liebe Fisch" Project Calendar 2021 available
as download (pdf, ~20Mb).
The fifth project calendar in a row,
provides pictures about activities in the project
in 2020...
➦ Read more
Final
Public Project Report and Final Project Brief available.
The "Ich liebe Fisch"-Project was officially terminated in May 2022.
Please download the
Final Public Project Report (in German) and a
Short Project Summary (in English) from here
or find it in our
public project repository
The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural
Resources (LUANAR) has become
the first
public University in Malawi to get its programmes
accredited internationally...
➦ Read more
The
endline survey revealed,
that the fish production in both intervention districts in Mchinji and
Nkhotakota significantly increased over the
3-years period the project was running...
➦ Read more
Opinions about the impact from the "Ich liebe Fisch"-Project in the Nkhotakota
and Mchinji district.
Community members talk about their experience
with the "Ich liebe Fisch"-project...
➦ Read more
The last couple of months saw great achievements
in the BSF pilot facility at Bunda college farm. With
the support of two German volunteer, the
infrastructure of the BSF pilot plant was finished...
➦ Read more
Please note: this site will be updated
continously. Copyright ©2021
"Ich liebe Fisch",
www.fish-for-life.org
