Socio-economic contribution of pond fish production to people’s livelihood in Butelaja district:

Abstract

Fish farming involves commercial breeding of fish, usually for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds and also in cages. Fish farming was introduced in Uganda in the 1950s but has only in recent years become adopted as a commercially viable enterprise. The study was conducted for a period of one month. I.e. from 27th December 2022 to 28th January 2023 and it aimed at assessing the socio economic contribution of pond fish farming to people’s livelihood in Butaleja District a case study of Busolwe sub county. It was considered that pond fish farming in Butaleja district in Busolwe sub county contributes a lot to people’s livelihood in the community but little or scanty information has been known to policy makers. The main objective of this research was to provide to the managers on how important this pond fish farming is to the community in terms of livelihood and income. The samples were selected from three villages: Busabi, Butenga and Napekere and it included fish farmers, using interview method with the help of questionnaire as a tool. The data was analyzed using Excel software mainly and SPSS in few cases and data was presented by use of descriptive means like tables, line graphs, pie charts, and column bar graphs and so on. The results revealed that most of the respondents were male (84%) and people depended on pond fish farming activity as their source of livelihood (64%). The study further revealed that the respondents were mostly fulltime pond fish farmers who carried out pond fish farming mostly from 3-4 months (34.4%) and 5-7 months (31.3%); and the pond fish farming activities carried out included pond fish farming (64%), fish processing (6.25%) and fish trade (78.13%). Apart from fishing as their source of income, most respondents carried out crop farming as an alternative source of income (54%) and fish trade (30%) and others. The average income of most respondents earned from fishing activity is UGX 1.67 US $-4.167 US $ (56.3%) a month of fish farming and the average income of most respondents earned from alternative sources is US $13.9 and below (46.2%). The study also found out that there is no recreational pond fish farming i.e. (0%) in the selected area. Since the study revealed that people depended on fish farming as their main source of income and livelihood, but could still not help them move from low income status to middle income status. Therefore, study recommends promotion of aquaculture and other alternative sources of income like crop farming and livestock farming to help them improve on their standards of living or sensitize the community to practice commercial fishing by knowing their costs and efforts.