Scientists use salt pans to reduce fish food import bill
Fish mongers await clients at Jubilee market in Kisumu. File
Kenyan scientists are testing large scale production of fish food that could generate jobs and save farmers millions of shillings in imports. Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) is carrying out a pilot project in Magharini, Coast province, where fish food called artemia will be grown in salt pans.
The product is imported from the US and costs Sh2,000 a kilogramme. Rising fish production in the country has increased demand for artemia which young fish feed on for the first six weeks before they turn to other meals.
“We are exploring local artemia production in order to fulfil Kenyan requirements for artemia cysts and biomass and eventually to enter the international market,” said KMFRI Mombasa programme cordinator Betty Mindraa Nyonje.
Artemia grows well in salty environments, making the coastal region a prime choice for large scale production.
Artemia is a minute sea animal which is highly nutritious for fish and whose eggs are food for fingerlings.
Due to the high price of imported artemia, small scale fish farmers have opted to use traditional feeds.
These include mixing dry grass with chicken manure and putting it in ponds to provide an environment that encourages the growth of planktons.
But large and established fish farms cannot rely on this method since it cannot provide enough planktons to feed fish, hence the need for imports. Other foods for fingerlings used locally include rotifas and bathnia.
The KMFRI project intends to upgrade living conditions of rural communities by growing artemia cysts (eggs) and biomass in locally available salty environments. Dr Nyonje said that large scale farmers such as Dominion in Siaya, Jambo in Kiambu, and Mwea in Kirinyaga County offer a ready market for fish food.
“There are about 150 major fish farms in the country that provide a potential market apart from exports,” said Dr Harrison Karisa, the director of Aquaculture Research Services based in Sagana, Central province.
The first phase of the project aims at conducting artemia production with the aim of developing techniques for inoculation and pond management, harvesting, processing, and storage of cysts and biomass.
The initiative also aims at enabling salt manufacturers to enter into commercial production of artemia cysts.
Artemia production is estimated at 50 kilogrammes of artemia eggs per hectare per month. Besides cysts, one hectare can produce two tonnes of artemia biomass per month, which is fed to mature fish.
Kenya’s salt belt in Magarini covers about 10,000 hectares, using one third of this area for integrated salt-artemia production can improve the economy of the region by up to Sh10 billion annually. Community development centres, which have already developed aquaculture initiatives, will be targeted for production of fish food.
The project, which was officially launched by Fisheries Development minister Amason Jeffah Kingi on October 25, enjoys technical support from Can Tho University in Vietnam, and the Laboratory for Aquaculture and Artemia Reference Centre at Ghent University, Belgium.
Production of farm fish more than doubled in 2010 from about 5,000 metric tonnes in 2009 to about 12,000 metric tonnes.
Last year, 20,000 fish ponds were constructed in 160 constituencies, according to the Economic Survey 2011. The sector earned about Sh18 billion last year, more than double the Sh8.6 billion earned in 2006.
