• Fish farmers have not been able to expand their production on account of high cost of electricity.
• All fish farms have been put on commercial tariffs
• The much water and rain would have helped Farmers to grow more fish
Zambia Aquaculture Cooperative Society has disclosed that Fish deficit is growing in the country despite heavy rains increasing the Water table.
Cooperative Chairperson Dr. Collins Kachaka told Money FM News in an interview that this was because fish farmers were not able to expand their production on account of high cost of electricity from the country’s power Utility firm.
Dr. Kachaka noted all fish farms have been put on commercial tariffs an issue that has resulted in them reduce on production to manage the cost of electricity as 85% of them rely on it to draw underground water.
He stated that the much water and rain would have helped Farmers to grow more fish.
“We are still experiencing a deficit, we will still experience a deficit and the deficit for fish is growing despite the heavy rains that we have had or we are still having now,” Dr. Kachaka said.
“As you know that 85 percent of our farmers draw their water from the underground so these farmers rely on the electricity which is very high,” he added.
