Pond Aquaculture Booming, Physico-Chemical Characteristics, Socio Economic Contribution and Determinant Factors in Some Selected Districts of Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Pond aquaculture plays a vital role in global development, driven by the increasing demand for fish protein. Cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the pond aquaculture booming, physico-chemical characteristics, socio-economic contribution and determinant factors in selected districts of Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. The study districts were selected purposefully based on the presence of aquaculture ponds, with all households owning a fish pond participating. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The findings revealed a total of 146 fish ponds constructed among which 120, 14, 10, and 2 were founded in Omo Nada, Shabe-Sombo, Nadhi-Gibe, and Sokoru, respectively. The most common pond dimensions were 4m to 20m in length, 5m to 20 m in width, and 0.68m to 2m in depth, with an average area of 123.295±65.0914m2. Water sources used includes streams or rivers (70.5%), spring water (26.7%), ground water (2.1%), and borehole water (0.7%). Nile Tilapia dominated fish species (96.6%), with mixed tilapia-catfish and Labeobarbus up to 1.4%, while 2.1% of the ponds remained unstocked. The stocked fingerlings were taken from research centers (52.7%), neighboring fishponds (36.3%), Gilgel Gibe reservoir (6.2%), and rivers (2.7%). Physico chemical characteristics of water include mean values of 24.44±2.22C0 (water temperature), 5.98±1.41 (DO in mg/l), 7.31±0.71 (pH), 96.16±44.59 (EC in µs/cm), 65.94±0.16 (TDS in mg/l), and 10.85±3.13 (turbidity in inches). A total of 64 specimens of Nile Tilapia harvested from 57 fishponds measured and the mean in total length (TL) from 10.01±1.3 cm to 31.87±0.4 cm and the mean weight range from 13.08±1.3 g to 189.15±8.7g were recorded. Most of respondents had not harvested any fish, and some had sold fingerlings. Key constraints of fish pond farming includes high construction costs, harvesting materials, lack of organized markets, training, predators, and access of feed. The environmental conditions, such as year-round water supply, suitable soil for pond construction, availability of fingerlings in Gilgel Gibe, and farmer interest as major opportunities for the success of the fishpond farm in the study area. In conclusion physicochemical characteristics of the fishpond are favorable for fish production and there are opportunities for further pond aquaculture booming. Therefore managing the constraints and optimizing the construction and productivity of aquaculture ponds for small-holder aquaculture farmers is important.