Rwanda fish culture

The Agricultural Assistance Officer/Kigali will manage the project in the field. The Kigembe National Fish Station and Training Center will be renovated and equipped to allow it to serve as the national training center for fish culture, and 10 prefectural fish stations will be upgraded to serve as fingerling and production ponds, demonstration centers, and sites for extension outreach activities. Small pond construction will take place at ancillary training locations such as the Women"s Agricultural School at Nyagahanga and the Scout Center at Butare. Seven Rwandans will be trained as A-2 fish specialists, thus bringing to 19 the number of such specialists to staff the Kiegembe Center and perfectural stations and to serve as trainers and training supervisors. The A-2 agents will also receive 2-week courses at the Center in basic fish culture techniques, the culture of Tilapia nilotica (the culture species chosen for the project), extension theory, and the organization and work of the extension program in which they will work. In addition, 50 fish culture monitors (extensionists) will be trained at the Center in fish culture technology and extension methods and will receive a kit of basic tools and a bicycle to help in extension activities. Training programs will be provided at both the Center (2-3 days) and stations (1 day) for individual farmers, representatives of farmer groups, youth groups, etc., and both locations will provide demonstrations in the form of lectures, slide shows, short courses, and the like. Center and station specialists will also be available to help educational institutions such as those noted above establish training courses, to advise on fish pond construction, and to train fish culture inspectors from these institutions. The Rwandan fish extension service will receive technical assistance to carry out field trials of Tilapia nilotica, particularly during the project"s first year, when fish culure will be reintroduced to the the first three PS"s. First year goals will be to produce 20,095 kg of fish in 1,061 ponds.