Hellen Mushili¹ , Confred G. Musuka²

1. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport, P.O. Box 70095, Ndola, Zambia
2. The Copperbelt University, School of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 8   doi: 10.5376/ija.2015.05.0008
Received: 16 Mar., 2015    Accepted: 08 May, 2015    Published: 19 May, 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Mushili and Musuka, 2015, Promoting aquaculture growth in Zambia through Cluster approach: a case study of Luanshya district of the Copperbelt Province, International Journal of Aquaculture, Vol.5, No.8: 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2015.05.0008)

A study on the promotion of aquaculture growth through cluster approach dubbed “Zambian aqua-farmers project instituted in January 2010”, where FAO was the cooperating partner, was conducted in Luanshya district, through a survey using questionnaires and personal interviews. Purposive sampling was used to come up with the sample size. Data was analysed using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 16.0). Results of the study showed that the cluster approach had a positive impact towards the growth of aquaculture in Luanshya district. More than half of the respondents had increased their pond areas to more than 500m²after the cluster approach and hence stocked more fish. Before the cluster approach 43.3% of the fish farmers were able to generate about K300-K600 from one cycle, however, after the cluster approach more than half (70%) of the farmers could generate more than K900 from one cycle. Reasons advanced for such changes were attributed to the applications of the lessons farmers learnt from the cluster programmes. The farmers had among others improved in record keeping, pond construction and pond site selection after the cluster approach. It was therefore, acknowledged that the cluster approach could be used in the promotion of aquaculture growth in Zambia.

Promotion; Aquaculture Growth; Cluster Approach; Luanshya District; Copperbelt Province