Mum had told us about a guy who had built his own pond and was keeping Bream fish, mainly for his family to eat but also with a view to selling commercially.  He had spoken to mum about it and had invited us to go and have a look.

This was interesting as we have been thinking of different things we could do that could bring in income for the project.  We have realised that there are lots of people doing the same things here, growing the same vegetable etc. and that it makes it hard for people to make a living.  This seemed like something a bit different.  We know there is a fishing area some way away and had eaten some Bream from there, very nice fleshy fish, so we went to have a look.

What a very simple idea, he had made a pond 18m x 6 ½ m, 2m deep at its deepest and 450cm at its shallowest.  He said it took about 1 week to dig the hole, got the plastic lining from Harare and caught the fish from the local river (said he put in about 50 baby fish at the start).  The pond is filled from his bore hole and is pumped out about 3 times a year when the water gets too dirty.  The water is not wasted as it is pumped straight out to the vegetable garden.  No need for an oxygen pump or plants in the pond.

He said they take a good hand size fish out to eat as and when they need to and there’s always plenty.  He now wants to build a 2^nd bigger pond so he can start selling commercially.

Definitely an idea to think about for the project.