North Rift embraces fish farming to boost incomes

A decision by a group of farmers from Uasin Gishu County to venture into rearing fish to stop overreliance on maize crop is paying off.

Hundreds of farmers in the region have now embraced the initiative by the government which is also aimed at meeting the growing demand for fish and better nutrition in the region.

Ishmael Kemboi, a first-year student at Koitalel University College pursuing a degree in aquaculture, is one of the farmers who have embraced fish farming in the North Rift. He is practising the venture at their family farm located in Sergoit in Moiben constituency.

Since last year in March when he began fish farming, he made about Sh50,000 from a small pond. This motivated him to increase the number of fish ponds.

“I thought of something that can bring me money. My parents gave me a small portion of land where they used to grow vegetables,” Mr Kemboi told Enterprise.

The young farmer notes that the venture is rewarding and plans to expand the project from the current four fish ponds to over 10 fish ponds.

“If you have a bigger fish pond you can have more than 5,000 fish. One can make Sh500,000 from such a pond. I want to engage fellow youth to engage in the venture,” says Mr Kemboi, who rears Tilapia and cat-fish in four fish ponds.

“I feed the fish with omena and fish pellets.”

In Kapseret, Hellen Kirwa ventured into fish farming last year saying it brings better returns compared to traditional crops such as maize and wheat.

Fish farming, she says, requires small space compared to other farming activities that need huge acres and are labour-intensive and costly.

“We are used to growing maize and wheat. But with fish farming you get better returns within a shorter period,” she says.

According to Uasin Gishu County agriculture executive Samuel Yego, the current fish consumption stands at 82 tonnes annually, most of which is imported from neighbouring countries like Uganda.

Mr Yego says encouraging fish farming is also part of the effort to fight malnutrition level that stands at 41 percent in North Rift although the region is the country’s food basket.

“We want to ensure that each individual can consume 10 kilos of fish annually. With a population of 1.2 million, we want to increase production to meet this demand and we are also encouraging the local communities to consume the white meat since it is nutritious,” Mr Yego told Enterprise during a field day at Moiben recently.

The county is providing 470,000 subsidised fingerlings this year to shore up local fish production in the 600 fish ponds and dams across the county.

“Currently, we are stocking over 300 dams. We also have the demonstration farms in all sub-counties to enable farmers to learn new technologies,’ said the CEC.

The number of ponds before the onset of devolution had dropped by nearly half due to high cost of feeds and lack of knowledge on how to manage them. With 400 fish ponds each producing 250kg of fish annually the total production was about 100,000kgs valued at Sh30 million.

Due to rising demand, the amount of fish ponds production has since increased from 100,000kg to over 330,000kg annually, valued at Sh150 million.

The county also conducts weekly ‘eat-more-fish campaigns’ (Fish Friday). During the campaign, farmers are taught about modern technologies of fish rearing.

“We are also promoting other modern technologies such as aquaponics and biofloc technologies aimed at increasing production and productivity as well as cut down on the cost of feeding thus increasing profits in fish farming,” adds the official.

Mr Yego says the county in partnership with the national government is considering putting up an Aquaculture Centre of Excellence at Chebrorwa ATC to boost fish farming through provision of quality feeds, research and intensive fish production.

The current aquaculture project seeks to revive the one that collapsed under the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) in 2009. The country’s fish production then had grown from meagre 2,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes through aquaculture.

Kenya seeks to plug the deficit by promoting aquaculture through the Economic Stimulus Programme that started with former President Mwai Kibaki’s regime.

When the programme was established in 2008, fish production was at 1,000 tonnes a year, a figure that has grown to 22,000 tonnes.

Aquaculture provides up to 24 percent of the country’s total fish production, with the balance coming from lakes and oceans.

Kenya is yet to attain the full potential in fishing at the Indian Ocean. Under the Exclusive Economic Zones, local fishermen are allowed to fish up to 200 nautical miles from the Kenyan shores, but they are operating at below five nautical miles for lack of appropriate fishing gear to explore the deep sea waters.

West Pokot County government has also embraced fish farming and it has introduced fingerlings at Turkwel dam. The county is banking on the project to change livelihoods in the region.

Governor John Lonyangapuo says the dam has a huge potential and should not only be tapped for electricity production.

“I’m glad the programme has picked in earnest and major transformations are being recorded. There is a vibrant economy in centres adjacent to the dam,” Mr Lonyangapuo notes.

The increase in economic activities, he says, are changing the fortunes of the residents as fish trade is now thriving with farmers supplying Kapenguria and other major towns in Western Kenya.

According to Governor Lonyangapuo, apart from economic activities, fish has also improved nutrition levels in the arid region where malnutrition was common.

The devolved units in the region have also purchased motorboats to aid mobility across the large water bodies.