- Food security is one of the governor's six-pointy agenda to transform the county.
- Some 6,976 farmers are set to benefit from the venture.
Image: FILE
Kakamega government has embraced aquaculture as a key driver towards achieving food security.
Through a programme dubbed ‘Adopt a fish’ which seeks to leverage the county’s natural resources to uplift rural communities, the county has initiated several programmes meant to encourage residents to take up fish farming as a key income-generating venture.
The project is part of the wider plans by the devolved unit to diversify economic activities through establishment of alternative income-generating activities to move away from overreliance on sugarcane growing as the only cash crop.
Through a pact with the Aquaculture Business Development Programme, funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development the county has been empowering women, youths and people with disability through inclusive practices across various value chains.
The county has so far invested Sh216 million to support fish farming by procuring pond liners, predator nets and supply of fingerlings in the last two years, according to Governor Fernandes Barasa.
The county has also received Sh270 million from IFAD through ABDP to support fish farming.
The IFAD/ABDP has so far stocked or restocked four public dams with mixed-sex fingerlings, which will support about 1,200 households.
The four reservoirs, situated in the northern part of Kakamega, are Lugulu and Siyenga dams in Likuyani subcounty and Musembe and Mwamba in Lugari constituency.
“We also offer extension services and more importantly we have created employment opportunities encouraging our farmers to venture into fish farming,” Barasa said.
Food security is one of the governor's six-pointy agenda to transform the county. Some 6,976 farmers are set to benefit from the venture.
There are are about 9,988 fish ponds with the potential to produce more than 1,798 tonnes of fish in seven months.
Fisheries chief officer Jessica Weku said that farmers are grouped in Small Aquaculture Groups comprising 30 level one fish farmers from the same aquaculture development area.
“They register a group to facilitate collective training, sourcing of inputs, finance and marketing of their produce,” she said.
Weku added that the programme targets to create and register 98 SAGs, with 94 already on board.
The county supported construction of 624 new fish ponds and rehabilitated 1,361 others and stocked them with 1,901,100 fingerlings in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years.
The fingerlings valued at Sh16.5 million had an output of 147,211kg of harvested fish worth Sh53.4 million.
Through the intervention of the county, farmers have benefited from pond stocking, distribution of extension kits, construction of ponds and pond renovations at a cost of Sh11.1million.
ABDP has distributed 710,000 fingerlings to fish farmers in the 12 constituencies, while the county facilitated distribution of fish feeds, hatchery materials, a motorised boat and digital weighing scales in the last financial year.
Mumunyonzo Dam Integrated Agriculture Project, located in Nzoia ward, Likuyani constituency, is another initiative by the county to shore up aquaculture uptake.
The project spans a 15-acre piece of land, featuring a rehabilitated dam that covers five acres and arrests surface runoff water from a catchment area of approximately 2.7 square kilometres.
The project’s primary objective is to enhance aquaculture in the community by demonstrating modern fish farming techniques that will raise production by farmers.
“This objective will be achieved by installing fish cages in the dam, stocking them with fingerlings and utilising its waters for irrigation agriculture including cultivation of African leafy vegetables,” Weku said.
“These it aims at improving productivity and optimise resource use. It is designed to benefit 7,027 people including 2,816 men and 4,211 women with a bias on vulnerable and marginalised groups.”
The project introduced an innovative solution dubbed 'Fresh Fish Fridays' which helps address the challenge of fish marketing in the northern region of Kakamega.
Mumunyonzo had successfully organised 35 fresh fish market days, selling 1,684kg of fish at Sh500 per kilo and generating Sh842,000 as of August 23.
Fisheries executive Godfrey Owori said the ABDP partnership was a major stride in the realisation of Governor Barasa’s food security pillar in his six-point agenda.
He said that the increase in the county’s population has increased demand for fish.
“This demand gap can only be bridged with such approaches employed under ABDP, which includes climate resilient technologies of PVC liners, predator nets, provision of fingerlings and household training approaches,” Owori added.
“We are thankful to the IFAD/ABDP because the initiative will not only ensure food security but also boost efforts by the county government to diversify production and increase income to the rural communities.”
The Kakamega fish processing factory will provide ready market for the fish produced by farmers.
The factory has the capacity to process and export 20 tonnes of fish per day with the annual demand for fish being projected to be 7,000 tonnes.
The DAS Group and Kakamega county signed a memorandum of understanding where the firm is to run the factory.
The factory received certification by the ABDP and IFAD as a centre for fish aggression, warehousing and international fish exports in accordance with European Union standards.
The company was also rated as one of the best fish factories in Kenya in terms of compliance and it has met all the standards locally and internationally.
The factory is set to export fish products to at least 27 EU countries. The products to be exported include dried, smoked, fresh, frozen, teaks and fish fillets, among others.
ABDP county programme coordinator Norman Munala said the project has impacted positively on the people of Kakamega in its five years of implementation.
“One of the greatest lessons learnt during this implementation is the approach of Aquaculture Field School methodology of extension and training where the farmer becomes the expert,” Munala said.
This, he said is made possible when farmers put into action the learning and interpret results themselves which has had an overall increase in both constructed and rehabilitated fish ponds.