EU approves funding for Lake Victoria fishing bays

The EU has approved a finance grant of €1.5 million (Sh164 million) for the construction of six fish landing sites on Lake Victoria.

Assistant director of Fisheries in Western Kenya, Mr Michael Obadha, told Business Daily that work has begun at the selected beaches and will be completed in June, 2010.

The six are Nyandiwa in Suba district, Sori Karungu (Nyatike district), Ogal beach (Kisumu East district), Lwanda Kotieno (Rarieda), Wich Lum (Bondo) and Mulkoba in Bunyala.

The approval was granted in June after the Kenya government applied in October, 2008 which Obadha said was the reason the project was behind schedule.

“We are late because the revised financing agreement took time to be approved by EU,” he said.

The fish landing sites were part of pledges by the government in the larger fisheries-support infrastructure reforms to address the issue of post harvest losses.

The sites will be equipped with cold storage facilities to save the fishers and fish farmers from exploitation by middlemen as contained in the National Fisheries Policy launched in April this year.

The policy incorporates several programmes to manage the resources of the multi-billion shilling industry and boost production.

The establishment of the landing sites was seen as vital in efforts to double fish production by 2014.

But the government’s plan for the centres went silent until recently when the department of fisheries held ground-breaking ceremonies ushering in a new dawn for the subdued sector.

During the period, fishermen’s earnings dwindled while post-harvest losses mounted.

Throw-away prices

“In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty,” so sung reggae legend Bob Marley in his song ‘Rat Race.’

For the fishermen, they wallow in poverty in the midst of plenty.

Lameck Odanga, 29, and Susan Agutu, 45, both fishmongers at Kichinjio beachon Lake Victoria say in some cases, they are forced to sell fish at throw-away prices because they lack storage facilities.