Maldeco Aquaculture Limited
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The company was established in 2003 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Press Corporation Limited farming and selling chambo (oreochromis karongae) using both pond and cage culture.

The rationale for establishing the company was the decline in availability of the nation's favourite fish, chambo when set against a background of an animal protein deficient diet and a tradition of fish consumption. Press Corporation reasoned that any project increasing chambo production would have significant socio-economic benefits. From a developmental point of view Press Corporation also considered that Maldeco Aquaculture would act more generally as a catalyst for aquacultural expansion in Malawi.

In September 2003 the company started with environmental assessment issues. A full Environmental Impact analysis was carried out by the Fisheries Research Unit of the Department of Fisheries and subsequently approved by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

The project entailed construction of a 2.5 km pipeline, breeding ponds and fingerling production facilities, the sinking of net cages into the Lake and building a feed mill and a processing plant. The following has now been completed:

- 46 earth breeding ponds, 22 of which are larger than 15 x 40 metres
- 16 nursery concrete tanks for fry
- 14 earth fry ponds
- 2.5 kilometers pipeline of 315mm diameter
- Canals, inlet and outlets joining the ponds
- Reservoir
- 16 net cages installed in the Lake


All the 46 ponds have brood stock and are now in full production.

The first commercial chambo production was in February 2006. Already, early 2007, harvesting of 10 metric tons a week has started and the production target for the year is 1,200 metric tons.

Marketing of Maldeco Aquaculture products is through Maldeco Fisheries because Maldeco Fisheries has already established a name for quality products. Maldeco Fisheries has also experienced marketing staff with existing outlets in, and transport facilities to, most major market areas.

Currently Maldeco Aquaculture is also building a feed mill. A state-of-the-art mill, complete with a pelletiser, is already in Malawi. 32 more cages are to be installed by the end of February 2007, bringing the total to 48 floating cages in the lake.

Annual Report - 2004
The first phase (comprising all infrastructure except processing factory) in the implementation of this project was successfully completed and is going well. However, significant delay was experienced in collecting brood stock from the wild due to low survival rates. This has had the effect of delaying by roughly six months the point at which we would sell the first lot of fish from the project. Nevertheless, it is envisaged that around 50 metric tons of Chambo will be sold by the end of this year.

Annual Report - 2005
Commercial operation, which was delayed over one year due to difficulties in securing parent fish stocks, is now underway. Fourteen floating cages (out of initial 32 to be installed) are now stocked with Chambo of varying ages. An additional two cages were earlier harvested when the State President formally launched the project in February this year. It is anticipated that around 500 metric tons of Chambo will be harvested by the end of the year.

More cages have been ordered in anticipation of the placement of more fingerlings in floating cages, as we envisage producing over 1000 metric tons in 2007..



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