The Challenges & The Opportunity
Population Growth
Tanzania, East Africa – the land of the Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti … and one of the fastest growing countries in the world: Until the year 2050 its population will have more than doubled, from 50 million in 2019 to over 100 million people in 2050 (FAOSTAT, 2019).
High Fishing Pressure
While Tanzania’s population is vastly increasing, its fish and aquatic life stocks are rapidly wasting away. This is due to various reasons such as overfishing, pollution and overall missmanagement of lake environments. As a consequence, wild fish catches have been almost stagnating during the last three decades (FAO, 2020).
Aquaculture
Although aquaculture has long been realized to be a solution to the problem of declining fish supply, only about 2-3% of the fish consumed in Tanzania currently derive from aquaculture (FAO, 2020). The three main constraints for aquaculture development in the country are the scarcity and high cost of high-quality inputs, the lack of know-how and the lack of capital (Rothuis et al., 2014).
Fish farming in Tanzania and East Africa will become a multi-billion-dollar industry in the next few decades. Due to lacking supply chains most aquaculture ventures aim for large scale operations (investment >5 million USD) to be able to integrate the whole aquaculture value chain into their operations.
In the long term it is therefore important to think about how the aquaculture sector can develop in the most sustainable way so that not only large corporations benefit from the opportunity.
What is Bongo Samaki?
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide high quality, affordable aquaculture inputs (feed, fingerlings, equipment) to the Tanzanian fish farming sector and advice and train people on how to farm fish profitably and sustainably. Thereby we especially address smallholder farmers and small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
Our Vision
We want to make Tanzania a fish farming nation where aquaculture is carried out in a sustainable manner all over the country by lots of different people, thereby creating income, employment, ensuring food security and decreasing fishing pressure on natural water habitats.
Our Team
Teddy is the Managing Director of Bongo Samaki and responsible that all operations run smoothly.
- Experience in business administration and secreterial work (>8 years)
- Diploma in secreterial studies
- Currently based in Dar es Salaam and leading the feed distribution project
Olipa is a Director and a fish farm consultant of Bongo Samaki.
- Experience in fish farming operations (>3 years)
- Diploma in fisheries and aquaculture technology
- Currently based in Kipili and serving as the acting farm manager of The Tanganyika Aquahub
Jackline is a Director and fish farm consultant of Bongo Samaki.
- Experience in fish farming operations (>2 years)
- Diploma in fisheries and aquaculture technology
- Jackline also owns a small shop in Chalinze where she sells every day items
Sevi is a Director and Advisor of Bongo Samaki.
- Experience in doing business in Tanzania (tourism, solar energy, aquaculture/agriculture)
- Passionate about aquaculture and the science & economics behind it
- Currently managing the establishment of the largest fish farm in Tanzania
Our Projects
From 2019 to 2022 we operated a small pilot tilapia hatchery and R&D facility in Dar es Salaam. The facility was used to start a healthy broodstock population, test inputs and conduct growth trials.
With the pilot hatchery we gained valuable experiences in the fish farming industry in Tanzania and sold high-quality and healthy fingerlings to farmers and entrepreneurs mainly in the Coast Region.
In 2022 we discontinued the pilot hatchery to focus on our projects in Lake Tanganyika Region and build up a feed distribution network.
Together with the Lake Shore Lodge we are currently establishing a pond culture facility in Kipili at Lake Tanganyika.
The project will consist of a fish farming training center and a commercial fish farm. The goal is to reach an annual production of >2 million fry and 50 tons of table-sized tilapia (endemic Tanganyika tilapia).
Here some more impressions of The Tanganyika Aquahub.
Mulimuli is a community project initiated by Teddy’s Home Hostel and registered as a community group organization in Dar es Salaam. Together with Bongo Samaki the project tackles the high youth-unemployment in urban communities through a combined approach of tourism, farming and capacity building.
The core idea of Mulimuli is to combine backpacker hostels with community centers – creating places for inspiration and change.
Due to the COVID pandemic and the resulting slowdown in backpacker tourism, Teddy’s Home Hostel closed its doors in 2022. For more impressions and learnings of the Mulimuli project you can have a look at the past annual reports (2019, 2020).
Interested in Fish Farming?
Are you interested in fish farming? We’d love to share our passion with you – here is how we can help you …
Consultation and Training
We are happy to consult you on your existing or future fish farming project.
Moreover, we are glad to accompany you through your whole fish farming journey from planning to the finished setup including training of staff and management.
Inputs
Fingerlings
Fish Feed
Feed is still a big constraint in the aquaculture sector in Tanzania as there is no high-quality production facility of commercial fish feeds in the country. If you are in need of commercial fish feed (floating pellets) we can help you to import it or find existing importers. However, current prices of high-quality fish feed are very high at around 3’000-3’700 TZS/kg (1.30-1.60 USD/kg) for grow-out feed and up to 5’000-6’000 TZS/kg (2.15-2.60 USD/kg) for starter feed.
If you want to farm in ponds (not cages or RAS in tanks) we advice you to consider the production of your own feeds on your farm. We are happy to assist you with that and show you how to do it and find a suitable feed formula that is cost-effective depending on the available raw materials in your region.
Other Equipment
Please get in touch with us if you need any aquaculture equipment such as water quality measuring devices, HDPE geomembrane (liner) or any other equipment.
Contacts
Visit us
Our Address in Dar es Salaam:
Msasani Tower
Basement Wing ‘A’, 4th floor
Dar es Salaam
Please give Teddy a call or text her ahead to plan your visit: +255 713 426 895
Collaborate with us
Are you planning a research or a development project in the field of fish farming? Are you an interested in investing in the sector? Or are you just interested in aquaculture in Tanzania or East Africa in general?
Get in touch with us!
Email: info@bongofish.net
Phone/WhatsApp: +255 713 426 895