The Economic Stimulus initiative in Kenya has seen the North Rift take to aquaculture like fish to water. A number of residents who did not habitually eat fish are now savouring the delicacy, providing the much-needed market for farmers and institutions.
Last year, the government was targeting schools in a bid to ensure that students learned fish rearing skills.
The head teacher of St Agatha Mokwo Girls’ High School in Keiyo South, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Mrs Margaret Cheboswony, said the management plans to introduce fish as part of the school’s menu because there is a ready supply from the institution’s pond.
It was constructed in 2010 by the government in partnership with the African Development Bank through the Kenya Forest Service under the Green Zones Development Support Project.
The school has actively been participating in conservation of the environment. We have planted a lot of trees and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) personnel were impressed when they visited, she told Smart Company.
Fish harvested from the pond is sold to schools in the region for biology practicals and the rest is bought by the community and neighbouring towns.
Schools buy fish to use as specimens in laboratories from as far as Kisumu, but with the water hyacinth that has covered a significant portion of Lake Victoria, stocks have dwindled.
The increased demand for fish is a blessing as it translates to a ready market, said Mrs Cheboswony.
Mr Emmanuel Toroitich, the fish pond manager at the school, said more people have embraced aquaculture as an income generating activity to supplement other ventures such as livestock, horticulture, bee keeping, and maize growing.
Interaction with various communities that reside in the area and revelations that white meat is recommended compared to red meat seems to have attracted many people to fish and chicken that were not popular in the region, he said.
Mr Joseph Koima, a watchman at the school, noted the viability of the fish project and shared the business idea with a group of youths in his Kaptarakwa village.
He identified a site for a pond on his farm and six months later, the group of 12 is looking at the future with certainty.
We constructed the fish pond and started with 1,200 tilapia fingerlings. We are looking forward to a bounty harvest this month, said Mr Haron Mengich, who feeds the fish.
Harvesting, he said, is done between six and nine months.
Apart from government provisions, fingerlings are mainly sourced from the Chepkoilel University College, whose department of fisheries and aquatic sciences also trains farmers on fish pond construction and management.
Fisheries permanent secretary Japhet Ntiba said the Economic Stimulus Programme has been a success, with production of close to 30,000 tonnes of fish from aquaculture, up from 4,000 tonnes when the programme was launched.
The PS said depending on fish from natural systems like Lake Victoria and the Indian Ocean was no longer sustainable due to over-fishing, water hyacinth, and the effects of environmental change.
A drop in stocks, especially of fish like tuna, which fetches good returns in foreign markets, is as a result of over-fishing.