The Potential of Fingerpond Systems to Increase Food Production From Wetlands in Africa

In Africa there is a need to increase food security especially in the dry season when livelihoods are most at risk. The fingerpond concept is designed to exploit fringe wetlands sustainably for food production whilst conserving swamp integrity and biological diversity. The concept is a marriage of natural wetland phenomena with the historic activities of riparian peoples and more recent agro-piscicultural practices. These are summarized to highlight the main principles of fingerpond systems. Fingerponds exploit the richness and productivity of the wetland ecotone at the land/water interface and the seasonal flooding thereof. They are dug at the swamp edge in the dry season and the excavated soil is spread around their perimeters. The ponds are stocked naturally during the seasonal floods with fish migrations: they become cut-off as the waters recede and the land between is cultivated. Manure and waste from village compounds are used to fertilize the ponds. With co-funding from the EU INCO-DEV programme, experimental fingerponds co-managed by local communities were established in East Africa in 2002/03. We shall present our preliminary observations and discuss some strengths and pitfalls of our systems.