Sales promotion in Savé
November: a sales campaign has begun in Savé, a major town in the Yoruba (Nago) speaking part of east-central Benin . Certain fish are preferred over others among different ethnic nations and the Beninoise Nago and their Nigerian Yoruba relations have a strong preference for catfish (‘Silures’, Clarias species).

Meetings have been arranged at the Mairie and with various associations concerned with improvement in nutrition and health. Our objective is to find reliable fish sellers in Savé to re-sell commercial quantities of live Catfish transported from the farm by road.

Lower Rainfall in 2006
We have been keeping rainfall records since work was started on the farm and checked historical records (from the Tiutempo website) back to 1996.

The bar chart shows the total rainfall at Parakou from 1996 to 2006. The 1999 records are absent. 1998 was an exceptional year, but since 2002 there has been a trend of slightly lower rainfall (except for 2004). The implication for the farm is that less water is available for ponds when there is less rainfall.

The graph chart shows monthly averages grouped by year. The 1999 records are absent. Overall, the timing of the beginning and end of the rainy season has remained constant.

The green line is average monthly rainfall from 1996-1998.
The red line is mean monthly rainfall from 2000-2005.
The blue line is mean monthly rainfall for 2006 (up to November).

The implication for the farm is that 2006 is a year of poor rainfall, and we cannot reasonably expect more rain after November 2006. The Harmattan started about 10 th November in Parakou (7° N) and is blowing steadily. The dry season has started.

Earlier this year, the farm management was aware of the poor rainfall and converted a large unstocked fish pond to be a second reservoir. Two additional capture dams were made on streams within the farm property. All reservoir and ponds are completely full (at November 17 th) and as a result, the farm will adhere to its programme of increased production in 2006/2007.