Economy of Kafue

Textiles

Other industries in or near the town:

Kafue Fisheries Ltd was first established in 1981 with a five hectare pilot scheme. Over the succeeding years, the project has grown to its present size of 60 hectare ponds situated in the centre of 1800 hectare wildlife and cattle scheme. The whole aquaculture system is based on an integrated pig and fish enterprise with annual production of Tilapia exceeding 700 tonnes and 4000 pigs of the ‘heavy hog’ class.

For many years the system relied on the natural process of fertilization by the pig manure thus creating a dynamic and complex spectrum of micro life (algae, phytoplankton and zooplankton) on which the fish feed.

The dominant species have been Tilapia’s, using both indigenous O.Andersonii and imported O.Niloticus. The hatchery has evolved from using natural propagation in earthen ponds to selected brood stock in poly tunnels, and the production of all male progeny using both super males and MT technology.

Intensification and yield increases have steadily been seen over the years with the introduction of aeration and the manufacture of a unique supplementary “green water floating pellet”. The formulation of the pellet was developed with cooperation of an international feed company and a UK based researched institute.

Historically the project has incorporated and tested several other species of fish (other Tilapia, Carp and Barbel) as well as trialling further aspects of integration (other livestock forms, vegetable varieties, rice and banana production).