Pioneers of African aquacultureMarc de Laminne, Luangwa Bream Farm, Zambia

Marc de Laminne was born in Brussels in 1976 and grew up in Liege. In his teenage years he enjoyed helping his family in their commercial forestry business, giving him his love of nature, and understanding that growing things successfully takes time, patience and attention to detail. 

After college he went into the finance sector, working for a private bank in Luxembourg, before starting his own business selling goods via the internet. But, finding this unfulfilling, Marc began thinking more of travelling to learn about different cultures, and potential opportunities for starting new businesses elsewhere.

In 1998, with money from his salary, he travelled around Africa – including Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya. In Ghana, in the early 2000s he ate farmed tilapia with banku and pepper for the first time, and also saw the beginnings of commercial cage farming on Lake Volta. 

Marc met his first big life challenge in 2008 when he was diagnosed with cancer. A convalescence followed, during which time he had plenty of time to reflect and read. One day he came across an article on aquaculture in Zambia which caught his interest.  As a result, he started researching further into the possibilities of setting up a commercial agriculture or fish farm in sub–Saharan Africa.

In 2010 he went back to Ghana to look at potential businesses in jatropha, tomatoes and also fish farming. Then, in 2010 at an Agricultural Fair in Paris, he met two people who were to change his life and put him on the road for starting his own fish farm: Lionel Dabaddie and Olivier Mikolasek, at that time supporting the development of small-scale aquaculture across Asia and Africa for CIRAD. 

Through these two inspirational people he got in contact with Dr Ram Bhujel of the Asian Institute of Technology, in Bangkok, where he then went on one of its well-known, hands-on, three-week tilapia hatchery courses. While there he also met Angus Macniven, who – six years later – he bought the equipment from to set up his own hatchery and farm. 

Further visits to Cameroon followed, with Marc looking for potential sites to start a catfish/Clarias farm and meeting staff from APDRA for the first time who made a notable impression on him. 

Wanting to increase his knowledge of fish biology, between 2011 and 2012 Marc went back to study at the Department of Tropical Fish Farming, Centre de Formation et de Research d’ Aquaculture (CEFRA) at the University of Liege, where he met two further people who would influence his life positively: Jean Claude Micha a lecturer and African aquaculture consultant,  and Christian Ducharme a member of “ Collège des producteurs “ representing the Walloon (French-speaking Belgian) fish farmers and also a consultant in tropical fish farming.

Finding the site 

In 2015, having secured financial backing from partners in Belgium, Marc travelled around Zambia, visiting and learning from established commercial fish farms Kafue, Nsombe and Chirundu Bream, to get a better idea of aquaculture in the country and to look for a potential site. It took 3 months, travelling all over the country, until he finally found what he was looking for, when one day he arrived at a Catholic Mission Hospital on the Luangwa River, near Katondwe. 

He found a small mopani tree growing on the banks of the river which he had learnt from his training was a good indicator of vertosol, a type of dark “black cotton” clay soil suited for building fish ponds. After meeting the local district fisheries officer, Marc was introduced to the local chief and elders, and he decided to start the process of acquiring 132 hectares for his farm. Following a protracted delay, with patience and help from the local chief this was achieved. At that time Marc also found the SARNISSA network, which helped him develop his contacts, networks and also learn more about other private sector fish farms and associated value chains across the continent and into Asia.

Developing the site: step by step 

Marc started in 2016 with construction of one 600 m² earthen pond by hand. This was stocked for two harvest cycles with 15 g manually sorted male andersonii fingerlings. For the inlet, water was pumped from the Luangwa River through a 3” mains pipe, initially using a diesel pump, later to be replaced by a more efficient 15 kw centrifugal Lorentz solar pump. Water quality was good, with suitable temperatures of 27 °C for 10 months, dropping to 24 °C for the winter. The head for pumping from the river was variable (0.3 to 1.5 m), depending on the height of the river, however Marc set up a floating inlet pontoon, which worked well during heavy rains and also dry periods. There were times during heavy rain when the water coloured up and pumping had to be stopped. To mitigate this Marc constructed a lined 2,000 m² reservoir pond, which was later used to supply the hatchery and the broodfish. 

In 2017 the farm site was fenced and a generator added. The next year Marc built a house there. Further harvests came from the pond in 6- to 8-month cycles. In 2021 the hatchery was designed and constructed, inspired by his AIT training days.

He bought much of the specialist hatchery equipment through Angus Macniven, whom he’d met six years previously in Thailand. GIFT niloticus broodstock were sourced from within Zambia and the sex reversal process he’d learnt in Thailand was put into operation. Hapas were used in green water in well fertilised ponds, to get the fingerlings up to 10-15 g before they were counted, graded and released into the larger ponds.

Two oxen were also added, to help control the grass around the site, while also producing copious manure for fertilising the ponds. The oxen also pulled carts of feed, equipment and harvested fish around the farm. Further investment followed in 2020, allowing Marc to go into his second phase, integral to which were the purchases of a second-hand Komatsu excavator, New Holland tractor and Jack compactor, which arrived in June 2021. Further pond construction then started in earnest, with the excavation of 24 ponds over 6 hectares. Each pond was 2,500 m² with 110 mm and 180 mm inlet and outlet pipes respectively. These ponds were fertilised mainly using urea and NPK, but also local manures at a cost of roughly $15 per pond per cycle. When the green water came, each pond was stocked with 2.88 fingerlings per m², at average weight of 10 g, with the production cycle running for eight months. 

By this time, he had 20 full-time staff, mostly locals, including five in the hatchery. He sourced his feed from Farm Feeds and Novatek in Lusaka, and by month 7-8 of each cycle over 400 kg of feed was being used per day. 

Production in the hatchery has been improving under his long-serving hatchery manager, Samuel Nkhoma, with sales of fingerlings likely to be a viable income earning activity in the future. Marc reflects that Samuel is a very good teacher, and with his team of technicians works diligently – and largely in silence – “like a Swiss watch”, to produce consistent and quality results.

As Samuel himself explains: “I operate the hatchery with five technicians. I train them on how to feed, collect eggs, handle broodstock without stressing them and how to do broodstock selection so that we produce best quality sex-reversed fingerlings.

“We also give advice to clients who come to order fingerlings from across Zambia, on fingerling stocking, feeding, water management etc. Due to favourable water temperatures on the farm, our Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings show good growth and survival rates, also meaning that hatchery production and sales can continue throughout the year, unlike many other hatcheries across Zambia.”

By 2021 the hatchery was producing excess fingerlings and Marc began selling to outside customers. Most sales of the all-male fingerlings were between 1.5-2.0 g, with up to three separate fingerling sales each week. 

Each grow-out pond is harvested twice, with initially between 1 and 1.5 tonnes removed, then the remainder (up to 2.5 tonnes) harvested one week later. Then each pond is emptied, dried, limed and made ready for the next cycle. 

Marc says he’s ok with an average FCR of 1.8, but knows with improved management and other factors he can lower this further.

Sales of fish were initially local, but Marc has since built up a wider clientele, with one customer regularly buying 2 tonnes per month, which goes into four stores in Chipata. By 2023 the farm was showing an increasing trend in its monthly sales, with 2 tonnes in July, 4 tonnes in August, 8 tonnes in September, and 6 tonnes in October respectively. Annual production was 55 tonnes in 2023, then following a  cooler winter 45 tonnes in 2024. 

Now and the future

These days Luangwa Bream Farm has an off-grid solar system powering all its needs, including the hatchery and the main water inflow pump from the river. The farm has 36 operational ponds with a total water surface area of 147,000m² and a team of 26 staff. Marc says it is clearly noticeable how the skills of his team have improved over the last five years. 

“Each year, the farm welcomes one trainee, researcher or post-graduate. It is always a rich experience for the guest, our team and the management. Potential candidates are welcome to send me an email via luangwabream@gmail.com,” Marc notes.

The next phase of pond construction is ongoing, with a further three 1-hectare ponds and an additional 13 1,000 m² ponds planned in the next two years, to allow more flexibility in the management and sales of the grow-out fish, especially during the colder winter months. Stocking densities range from 2.8 to 4.0 fingerlings per m², at 5-20 g average stocking weights, depending on the season and other factors, and Marc is confident that his sales volumes will reach 150 tonnes this year and 250 tonnes the next. 

“Digging ponds is a gruelling job. But once it is done, it offers several advantages: the quality of your clay, the water, the fish and all the micro-organisms make a whole microcosm. We have now learned the best way of digging ponds and the plot will probably allow us to dig another 40 hectares of ponds. At the end of the day, I feel probably three times more exhausted than any other job I would have accepted if my life was in Europe, but the satisfaction of observing the changes in the shape of the new ponds means I am waking up with fully charged batteries,” Marc explains.

Presently all sales are fresh, not frozen, with each larger pond producing three size classes – 350 g, 450 g and 550 g average weights – and a total biomass of up to 3 tonnes, which provides a full load on the transport truck. The fish sales price remains stable at around $2.30 per kg, but Marc adds in Kwacha it is always more expensive.

Last year Marc sourced nearly 70 percent of his feed from Peter de Vet at Farm Feeds, but this year most of the feed is coming from Tiger Feeds. Due to two unusually bad rainy seasons, low maize production in Zambia and load shedding, feed prices have doubled in 18 months. And although feed has always remained available a key limiting factor has been the availability of electricity for the millers. 

There is now fierce competition between the larger Zambian tilapia producers, in particular the cage-based producers on Lake Kariba. Marc believes many Zambians prefer the taste of tilapia produced in earthen ponds, but for most consumers price remains a key factor, and it’s hard for pond-based farmers to compete for price with the fish raised in cages.

In terms of sales, an active network of clients is well established, including fish shops, butcheries and supermarkets within Lusaka and the Eastern Provinces. 

“We only supply fresh fish on the day of the harvest. Our clients accept to purchase tilapia at slightly higher prices than from cage farms because their customers are looking for pond-raised fish, with more subtle flavours and beautiful colours. Our fish are branded as Luangwa Bream, coming from the pristine waters of the Luangwa River, one of the few remaining major river systems in southern Africa that crosses solely through natural parks,“ explains Marc.

Starting and running a commercial fish farm has been a labour of love. It is now nine years since the first spade went into the soil and the first pond was constructed and Marc has expanded the original site beyond all recognition. He remains positive for the future and is happy his team are improving each year. What’s more, the growth in sales will soon allow him to strengthen the farm’s management team.

However, he is very much aware of the need to continue lowering production costs per kg in order to remain commercially viable.   

“Building a farm from scratch requires the contributions of hundreds of people: their advice, comments, help, and constructive conversations. It’s a never-ending task. I would like to thank all the people who took time to add each brick to this wall,” Marc reflects. 

Meanwhile he continues to strive for further improvements. As he reflects: “There are still a thousand things to do in order to improve the farm. We want to know better what we grow in the water. How to influence the populations of plankton and bacteria. We want to improve our multitrophic approach. How to improve our FCRs by influencing and better managing these water parameters. We are currently testing probiotics in order to help the fish to better digest plant-based protein. Zambia being a landlocked country and a net exporter of cereals, importing animal protein does not make sense. We must provide a nutritious fish to a low-income population. Ninety-nine percent of our feed is made from  ingredients sourced from Zambia. The quality of the muscle and taste of the fish is the final result.”