Fish farming on ascending swing in Mt Kenya
Seth Mwaniki
GROWTH: Fish farming, a practice considered cultural, and a preserve for communities around Lake Victoria basin and the coast region, is gradually being embraced by all.
This has been proved by a growing list of farmers particularly from counties in Central region known for cash crops such as tea and coffee who are adopting fish rearing as a new stream to diversify their income.
According to Aquaculture Business Development Programme National (ABDP) Coordinator Sammy Macharia, already 2,000 farmers drawn from 15 counties who are beneficiaries of the Sh15 billion programme in Western and Central regions, are engaged into serious fish farming.
“When we rolled out this programme two years ago, the number of fish farmers was very low and the practice was being done informally.
We can, however, now report that at least 2,000 farmers in the said counties are generating good income,” he said.
Those already into it are gradually increasing their annual average fish production capacity from 10 kgs to 50 kgs with hopes that the production will go up to a tonne per farmer per year.
Monthly basis
A farmer at Nyaribo village in Nyeri County, Mukui wa Kamunguna said that with skills that he has acquired so far, he is managing to produce the said average kilos on a monthly basis and even surpassing, noting that though he is yet to break-even, the returns cannot be regretted.
Kamunguna who has also opted to turn into value addition by selling cooked fish is also buying raw fish from surrounding local farmers.
“I am surprised that demand for fish in my locality can be that high. People are coming in their numbers to buy cooked fish and this has forced me to buy raw fish from locals to satisfy my growing market,” he said.
