The appropriateness and sufficiency of public support to small-scale aquaculture producers in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Abstract

Aquaculture has become a significant global food-producing sector, where, with the traditional capturing fisheries being depleted, it offers a good opportunity to supplement supply in order to meet the increasing demand for aquatic food as populations grow. In the context of South Africa, the country has a wealth of marine and freshwater resources, and, because of this and diminishing captured fisheries, has a high growth potential. Consequently, aquaculture has been prioritised as an industry that could provide significant potential for increasing employment opportunities, rural and economic development, as well as food supply, while generating earnings and reducing poverty.

Regardless of its potential and prioritisation on the part of government, the sector remains small and insignificant, contributing little to regional, national and global total fish production. The small-scale aquaculture farmers face various challenges that hamper their development and that of the sector. In efforts to address these challenges, the public sector has over the years implemented a number of policies and support programmes such as the National Aquaculture Strategic Framework (NASF), Operation Phakisa Aquaculture initiatives and the National Aquaculture Policy Framework (NAPF) amongst others. Despite this government support, small-scale farmers continue to face challenges, and the sector is growing at a slow rate.

Various studies have been conducted that focus on identifying challenges and recommending possible solutions for aquaculture development in the country. However, extant studies do not assess whether the implemented government interventions or support programmes are appropriate and sufficient for addressing these challenges and developing small-scale aquaculture farmers. The overall objective of this study was to assess the appropriateness and sufficiency of public support for small-scale aquaculture producers in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The study focused on the appropriateness and sufficiency of two aquaculture support programmes, namely, the Aquaculture Development and Enhancement Programme (ADEP) and the Aquaculture Technology Demonstration Centre (ATDC). These programmes were identified for the purpose of this study, because they are aimed to address major challenges among small-scale aquaculture producers, namely, a lack of access to funding, and skills development.

The study utilised both primary and secondary data. The research approach consisted of a combination of literature reviews, surveys, and stakeholder interviews. Responses from 18 aquaculture farmers and three government departments (the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and Free State provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (FSDARD)) that implement the support programmes were captured in Microsoft Excel for data cleaning. Data was imported into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for automatic coding, and for further statistical analysis. Statistical analysis methods, such as frequency distribution and comparison analysis, were employed.

The key finding of the study was that small-scale aquaculture producers continue to face challenges, such as lack of access to finance and skills development, regulatory barriers, and increasing costs of inputs and capital expenditure. The findings further revealed that public support available through ADEP that serves to assist small-scale aquaculture with access to finance was neither appropriate nor sufficient. The ADEP was not considered appropriate because the minimum requirements for grant funding are difficult to achieve by small-scale aquaculture producers. Financial support through ADEP is not sufficient due to its cost-sharing reimbursement structure creating a barrier for farmers lacking upfront capital. Furthermore, it does not offer start-up and working capital, which are the major needs for small-scale aquaculture development.

Similarly, the support related to skills development provided through ATDC was fairly appropriate and sufficient, because it offers free fish farming courses and lacks stringent selection criteria, focusing on subsistence and small-scale farmers. However, findings from the 18 farmers interviewed and the two implementing departments, DFFE and FSDARD further revealed that ATDC was not appropriate and sufficient, because it only offers basic fish farming courses, and does not offer comprehensive courses required to start and operate a farm, such as management, financial and personal skills. In addition, due to its location, the ATDC struggles to reach geographically dispersed farmers and poses a challenge owing to limited budgets to cover the cost of transport to the centre, food, and accommodation, which makes the training prohibitively expensive for many small-scale farmers. The findings also showed that similar aquaculture support programmes in China were more comprehensive, in comparison with support programmes in South Africa. ADEP and ATDC did not have the crucial elements required to provide comprehensive support to address financial and skills challenges faced by small-scale producers in South Africa.

In conclusion, the study results demonstrate that small-scale aquaculture is still underdeveloped and continues to face various challenges that limit its potential and development. The government interventions to address these challenges have had little impact on the development of small-scale aquaculture, and are therefore highly not appropriate and are highly insufficient. Both the programmes that were investigated in this study, the ADEP and the ATDC, are important for the sector, but have proven to be insufficient and inappropriate for providing financial support and skills development required for small-scale aquaculture development. The case of China demonstrates that the aquaculture sector development in China was largely attributable to government policies and support. However, in the case of Egypt, fewer records of such support were found, which may indicate that the development of aquaculture not only depends on governmental support, but also on other external factors that do contribute.

The study shows that there are possibilities and potential for improving the existing support programmes to become more appropriate and sufficient for small-scale aquaculture needs, as well as for achieving government goals. The study provides the following recommendations: (i) aquaculture blended financial model, suggest the ADEP be reviewed and blended with seed funding (start-up capital), which can be offered as a pure grant together with a subsidised loan that offers a low-interest loan for own contribution, working capital and for improving the competitiveness of the farm; (ii) comprehensive aquaculture extension system, which suggest that each province should have an aquaculture demonstration centre based on the demand, where the centres should add business, personal and management-related courses, essential for effective management of a farm, especially financial management, record keeping and other personal skills. Government should also invest in increasing the number of quality aquaculture extension officers and their expertise or skills in aquaculture, and the existing centre, the ATDC, ought to increase its promotion and awareness activities, and proper guidelines as to what they offer should be developed; (iii) aquaculture small-scale development policy, a policy dedicated to small-scale should be developed to address, over and above access to finance and skills development, other issues such as cheap fish imports, regulatory barriers, technology use, alternative energy sources, and research and development; (iv) comprehensive aquaculture research and development will encourage institutions such as Department of Science and Technology (DST), Agricultural Research Council (ARC), universities and South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) to work more closely together with the government to ensure that small-scale aquaculture is protected against proven, failed production systems and species. Further research and development ought to be undertaken in improving and introducing technology, species and feed that are of high quality, suitable for South African conditions, and would improve productivity and income.

Keywords: Aquaculture, small-scale farmers, funding support, skills development, public support.