Fish farmers in Kakamega have received pond liners worth Sh33 million from the county government.
Governor Fernandes Barasa handed over the 768 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pond liners to farmers at the Lutonyi Fish Processing factory on Friday.
The move is aimed at promoting fish farming as an alternative, to avoid over-reliance on sugar cane growing as the main income earning activity.
"As a county, our focus is to ensure that our farmers and the county is food secure,” Barasa said.
Food security is one of the governor's six point agenda to transform the county.
The initiative, a collaboration with the International Food for Agricultural Development through the Aquaculture Business Development Program, seeks to reach farmers in the 12 constituencies.
The governor also gave 15,000kg of sunflower seeds to 6,840 farmers to plant across 5,000 acres of land, to improve food production.
He said the project, a partnership between the county government and the Agriculture and Food Authority, targets to harvest 4,000 tonnes of sunflower and one million litres of oil valued at Sh200 million when extracted.
The county will support fish farmers by providing them with fingerlings, fish feed and predator nets to exploit aquaculture's huge potential.
The first batch will be distributed in Matungu, Mumias West and Malava constituencies.
Some 6,976 farmers from the county are set to benefit from the venture, and there are about 9,988 fish ponds with the potential to produce over 1,798 tonnes of fish in seven months.
Fish farmers welcomed the initiative and urged the Kakamega Fish Factory to put local farmers first.
“We need to be empowered. As much as the governor is helping on one hand, on the other hand, we want him to compel the factory to give local farmers priority by buying their fish first before it can buy from other counties,” Cyrus Akhonya, a fish farmer from Lurambi constituency, said.
Last year, the county secured a deal to export 10 tonnes of fish to Italy every week, becoming the first devolved unit to land a lucrative deal.
The factory was cleared to serve as a warehousing and international fish export center after meeting local and international standards.
This allowed for the export of fish to Dubai, the UK, the Netherlands and other 27 European countries that are potential markets.
