A study was conducted in Wonchi woreda, where aquaculture had been practiced for about 10 years. Despite the number of years spent and efforts to promote aquaculture in the study area, the awareness and attitude of farmers towards the sector have not been known. Therefore the current study was conducted to give feedback for monitoring and evaluation of outputs achieved from the farmers’ side as a result of the intervention. A mixed methods research was applied. Meanwhile, both purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select 105 farmers. Data were collected using semi structured interview and focus group discussion. For data analysis, both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. Result of the analysis indicates that 36.2% of the respondents are aware of fish, aquaculture and most of its related practices while the 35.2 % from the other extreme are not aware of fish and aquaculture at all. A five point Likert scale was used to measure farmers’ attitude towards aquaculture. Through expertise judgment, 6 out of 10 statements were retained and administered to the samples. Meanwhile, only two significantly differentiated farmers with favorable and unfavorable attitudes. Analysis of their overall attitude indicates that 46.6% and 40.9% have favorable and unfavorable attitudes respectively. Generally, farmers have some understanding of fish and aquaculture. Unfavorable attitudes also prevail in the study area. Hence, more awareness is necessary with emphasis on pond dynamics in relation to the development of malarial mosquito and some misconceptions towards fish farming for nutrition security.

Keywords: Aquaculture, Attitude, Awareness, Items, Household, Likert Scale