Owning and managing a farm is never a bad idea. With the present economy and the evolving of things, engaging in agriculture is highly encouraged.
I manage my mom’s large farmland. She’s into different fields of agriculture. A combination of both aquaculture, crop farming and animal husbandry.
There’s a corn farm present, huge banana trees and fresh vegetable farming.
My favorite part of the farm is aquaculture also called fish farming.
AQUACULTURE
Fish farming is fun to me because I enjoy the different stages of growth. From the fingerlings size to the harvest time. We make use of earthen ponds and tarpaulins. The availability of constant water supply and a drainage system is very important.
The earthen ponds are dug by professionals. It’s the most common type and it can contain up to 5000 fingerlings depending on the size . It’s also durable and can last for years.
It’s advisable to use the tarpaulin ponds for a first timer in aquaculture. In the absence of constant water supply and a large space, the tarpaulin pond is the best option to go for. It can take up to 500 fingerlings and water drainage is easier.
Except for household use, fish farming for commercial purposes at the start is not cost friendly. The most challenging part is feeding, labor and potential diseases.
There are different fish feeds like the starter feed, the grower feed and the finished feed. They are measured in millimeters and it ranges from 0.5mm to 10mm, 0.5mm being the starter feed.
As the growth of the feed progresses, the feed changes.
Fish feed is not cheap too, the younger the fish, the more expensive their feeds are. This is one of the odds of fish farming.
We don’t face this particular challenge because my mom is a distributor for fish feeds so it’s cost effective to a larger extent. In an otherwise case, this is one of the challenges fish farmers face.
They are reared until about 4-5 months when it’s ready to market and sell out. The longer you rear, the more expensive it becomes to maintain.-
An interesting fact I learnt is cat fish are carnivorous in nature. They engage in cannibalism and it’s one of the problems fish farmers face. In my farm land, we sought every month. Sorting involves separating the big fish from the small ones into separate ponds to prevent cannibalism.
Not sorting your ponds can lead to shortage and a lot of loss.
Another challenge is shortage and stealing. This is a major challenge most fish farmers face. It’s almost difficult and impossible to monitor the number of fish in the pond. Most people use this opportunity to steal and without a trustworthy staff, all efforts will go down the drain.
To succeed in fish farming, a trustworthy staff or manager is very important.
Being a manager at the farmland has really helped in my management skills. It has improved my knowledge in aquaculture and different areas of agriculture.
I run the day-to-day activities of the farm, keep records, monitor activities and ensure the farm is kept clean always.
Sometimes, it gets tiring but the knowledge , experience and entrepreneurship skill I’ve gained over the years can’t be taken for granted.
I’ll be doing a series of different areas in my farmland and taking you all through the process.