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Kisii County is one of the leading inland fisheries counties in Kenya. It has 2,173 active farmers registered by the county government with more than 2,300 fish ponds.
The county has invested heavily in fishing by helping aquaculturists by providing them with fry, mainly tilapia and catfish at friendly costs.
According to Kisii County Fisheries Director Edwin Muga, two programs are currently underway in the county; the program financed by IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) and ABDP (Agricultural Enterprise Development Program).
Funded and managed by the county, ABDP is the program that currently helps fish farmers raise fry. Farmed fish farming is a type of aquaculture carried out in areas far from water bodies.
The opposite of cultured fish farming is capture fish farming which is practiced in large bodies of water such as rivers and lakes.
In Kisii County, there are three multiplication centers; Ogembo, the city of Kisii and Kebacha. These centers are responsible for fingerling production and distribution to farmers inside and outside the county.
Ms. Jeritah Mayaka, head of the Kisii fish multiplication center, explains that there are several steps to go through before obtaining fry.
She says that a fish smaller than a fry is called fry in its early days. French fries, she added, are fed genetically modified foods that change their gender from female to male. Mr Edwin Muga says this is done to ensure that there is no overcrowding in the ponds since it is only male fish in the pond where they are modified.
The farmers only get male fry because for them it is only for breeding and selling, and besides, it tends to get bigger than the females, which brings in more money to the fish farmers.
Kisii is one of 15 counties financed by IFAD and, according to Muga, has nine sub-counties where the culture fishery is practiced by small farmers, only five of which are financed by the IFAD program. Muga, however, said IFAD was ready to scale up and cover the 9 sub-counties.
IFAD is an intervention program. They often do a needs assessment with the farmers so that they understand what the farmer needs rather than providing everything. The manager says the needs of fish farmers are diverse and range from predator nets, feed, fry, transport and even markets. That is why IFAD tries to meet individual needs.
And in an attempt to promote agro-industry in Kisii, the ABDP program is set up in such a way that they sell the fry to farmers at a subsidized price compared to other private multiplication centers.
Mr Muga says the subsidized prices are due to the fact that overhead maintenance costs such as feed are already covered by the national government and therefore they do not sell fish for profit but rather for the improvement of the blue economy in Kisii County.
The ABDP program has also set up an intervention mechanism for needy farmers where they meet their needs halfway.
Throughout the fry production process, chicken fertilizer is added to the water to make it green to protect the fish from predators.
There is an influx of fry demand throughout the county and the three multiplication centers are sometimes unable to meet the demand.
Muga thus encouraged farmers to produce large quantities in order to meet the huge market.
He said many organizations were helping fish farmers, as well as the county government adding both the decentralized unit and the aid organizations were there to promote fish consumption campaigns. The Fish Eat campaign is basically about teaching people how to make more fish products, including samosas.
By Bruce Odongo and Duncan Bosire
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