Characterisation of fish farming systems in the provinces of Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental and Moyen-Chari in Tchad

Fish farming has been practised in Chad for several years, but remains poorly understood. The objective of the study was to characterise fish farming systems in Chad useful for improving fish production. A fish farming survey was carried out among fish farmers in the provinces of Moyen-Chari, Logone Oriental, and Logone Occidental from February to September 2023. The results showed that fish farming in the three Chadian provinces investigated was based on extensive farming (96%) and semi-intensive farming (4%), two farming systems. Extensive farming was carried out in ponds (100%). Fish farmers rarely (91.30%) renewed the rearing water. The average length of the production cycle was 24 months. The feed distributed was a mixture of agricultural by-products (100%). The rearing infrastructure was not fertilised (97.82%).The clarias and tilapia fry reared in monocultures (100%) were collected from the natural environment (95.83%). In semi-intensive farming, the rearing water was renewed on average twice per production cycle. The production period was short (6 to 12 months). The mono-sex tilapia and Clarias fry produced were fed on imported feed or in combination with local feed (50%). Fish farmers have an average income of 4,000,000 CFA francs per production cycle. The fish farming system is in its infancy in the Chadian provinces surveyed, and training for fish farmers must be considered.