Have the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) helped fish farmers in Zimbabwe?

Abstract

Fish farming is fast gaining momentum among rural livelihoods because of its untapped potential to generate employment and improve food security. In Zimbabwe, fish farming is mainly spearheaded by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) aimed at assisting the vulnerable communities. The NGOs are responsible for capacity building programmes which involve staff training and development through workshops and seminars to realize efficiency in aquaculture projects. Several fish farmers in Zimbabwe have received both training and funding from NGOs and this has boosted their aquaculture production. However, despite the efforts of the NGOs to capacitate the fish farmers, several reports of underproduction in fish farming projects have been observed. More so, there has been widespread allegations of corrupt tendency in their management whereby funds meant for fish farming projects are sometimes diverted or are never used for empowering communities as they were intended to. Poor accountability mechanisms in the NGOs impacts negatively on employment creation and food security as other fish farming projects are liquidated because of a lack of transparency and accountability. The objective of this article was to review the contribution made by NGOs in promoting the fish farming sector in Zimbabwe