The government through support from the Republic of Hungary is set to establish an aquaculture center of excellence in Kisumu County to scale up fish production.
The center to be established at Kabonyo-Kanyagwal in Nyando Sub-County is expected to offer a wide range of technologies to boost fish production in the country.
State Department for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Blue Economy Principal Secretary (PS), Dr Francis Owino, said the move is expected to revitalize farm fish production to reduce overreliance on fishing in Lake Victoria and other inland water bodies.
“The lake is choked because of a number of factors and we must now explore other options to meet the demand for fish in the country,” he said.
Speaking in Kisumu, the PS said the center modeled on the Sagana Aquaculture Center concept will give impetus to the government’s quest to tap into the blue economy and create job opportunities for the youth.
“We have seen the impact of the Sagana farm with counties like Nyeri, which don’t have a water body now leading in fish production,” he said.
He urged residents of Kisumu and the lake region to take advantage of the initiative and venture into fish farming to boost production and enhance food security.
To address dwindling fish stocks in Lake Victoria, Dr Owino said the government had embarked on promotion of cage farming as an alternative to meet the demand of fish in the country.
He challenged farmers to embrace the technology adding that the state department had allocated funds to construct at least two cages in each county along the lake this financial year.
The PS asked the respective county governments to also allocate funds for the project to construct more cages in the lake.
The state department, he added, was constructing four fish landing sites along the shores of Lake Victoria to support fishermen in the area.
The PS said the four, namely Luanda K’otieno, Sori, Nyandhiwa and Mulkova were at different stages of completion, disclosing that additional funds will be allocated in the next financial year budget to construct more sites.
By Chris Mahandara
