Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru has said her Government has intensified the fight against lifestyle diseases by encouraging production and consumption of fish following recent statistics from the Ministry of Health showing that the County was ranked as having the highest prevalence of diabetes and hypertension due to consumption of starch and red meat.
Speaking at Kangai, in Kirinyaga County, while issuing 101 fish pond liners to farmers in Mwea West, the Governor said fish consumption in the county is gaining popularity adding that this will go a long way in the fight against lifestyle diseases.
Waiguru said the County was spending large amounts of its drug supplies budget, purchasing medication for lifestyle diseases and therefore the urgent need to roll out interventions to stop the trend.
“We are not only encouraging our people to engage in fish farming as a way of creating alternative livelihoods but to also increase consumption to improve nutritional status in the county,” Waiguru said.
She said that the county aims at increasing its fish production from the current 71.3 tons to 371tons in 2027.
“We have 505 liners set for distribution across the county with each liner going to one household. We will thereafter issue each of the households with 1,000 fingerlings and fish feeds for the first six months,” the Governor added.
The County has also put up a fish aggregation center at Kiaga where farmers can sell their fish and carry out preliminary processing and cold storage for further marketing.
She said Sagana Industrial City will also provide an avenue for farmers to sell their fish for processing thus adding value and earning them better income.
Moses Chomba, a fish farmer, praised the impact of Governor Waiguru’s Wezesha empowerment program saying it was changing livelihood.
“The fish projects that have been undertaken through the Wezesha program have really transformed the lives of many people in our county. As a member of Kariua Youth Group, we had previously received pond liners, 1,000 fish fingerlings, and also had the privilege of getting full training on fish farming from experts sent by the County Government.,” he said.
By Mutai Kipngetich
