Fish farming in Lugari Sub County has received a major boost after 103 farmers recruited under the Aquaculture Business Development Programme (ABDP) received free fingerlings.
The farmers who benefited from 21.5 tonnes of free fish feeds recently under the same programme received 1000 fingerlings in a bid to promote fish farming in the sub county.
Speaking in Lumakanda where the selected farmers received the fingerlings, the Sub County Fisheries Officer Caleb Sifuna urged the beneficiaries to capitalize on the support to enhance their production capacity.
He advised the farmers to stock their ponds and practice proper pond management for higher yields.
“Last week we gave them free fish feeds to be used to feed the fingerlings they have received today.
“We acquired the fingerlings from LabedCash Marine Enterprise Fish farm which is an authenticated farm that produces quality fingerlings.
“With this type of fingerlings we expect the farmers to harvest over 10 tonnes in the next nine months which translates to over Sh.4million.” Sifuna stated.
He disclosed that the farmers have also been issued with record keeping books to enable them keep track of all their pond activities.
He noted that they will be offering extension services by physically visiting the farmers and through a mobile-based tool that stores information and monitors each farmer to ensure they properly maintain their ponds.
Lugari aquaculture field school chairman John Kilimi lauded Kakamega County fisheries department for the support aimed at promoting fish farming across the County.
He said, “We thank the fisheries department for donating to us fish feeds and fingerlings. We hope to harvest higher yields.
“We are appealing to farmers who have not yet embraced fish farming to come out and join us. Let them come for training and form groups so that they can be assisted to diversify to fish farming.”
Labed Cash Marine Enterprise Fish farm proprietor Laban Mwanzo said the Aquaculture Business Development Programme is a worthwhile programme that aims at promoting fish farming and uplifting the livelihoods of residents in the benefiting counties across the country.
He said the fingerlings from his hatchery are of high quality and that is why he was contracted to supply fingerlings to Western region counties of Kakamega, Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii and Busia.
“I want to assure the farmers that the fingerlings are of the best quality. We have bred them as mono-sex. They are only male and won’t be able to reproduce once stocked in the ponds.
“They mature very first and we expect after nine months the farmers will be able to harvest them and restock their ponds,” Mwanzo explained.
Aquaculture Business Development Programme is co-funded by the Kenyan Government and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and is aimed at reducing poverty, increasing food security and improving the nutritional status in rural communities.
The Programme is envisaged as national in scope but targeting counties with high concentration of aquaculture activity, high production, existing sectoral infrastructure (processing, marketing and research), adequate water resources and marketing potential.
In the pilot phase the programme targets fifteen counties of Migori, Kakamega, Homa Bay, Nyeri, Meru, Kirinyaga, Tharaka-Nithi, Kisii, Kisumu, Siaya, Busia, Embu, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado and it will expand further along the project implementation on a need basis.
Under the program 581 farmers identified in Kakamega County will each receive 1000 monosex tilapia fingerlings.
By Melechezedeck Ejakait and Grace Waruiru
