Nyeri fish farmers eye value addition with new machine

NYERI, KENYA: Fish farmers in Nyeri County will soon be able to earn more from the sale of minced fish and sausages if a plan to boost productivity by procuring a special machine to add value to the fish is successful.

The project will cost farmers close to Sh1 million but once successful they will be able to sell their fish as finished products.

Despite numerous interventions from the county government, including stocking fish ponds with high yield fish, procuring a refrigerated truck and deep freezers at Wamagana Fish factory in Tetu, farmers are having a tough time offloading the raw fish.

The farmers allied to Nyeri Fish Farmers Co-operative are on a bid to add value to their produce as demand for high quality and value added fish increases.

Nyeri County Fish Farming Co-operative Chairman Charles Mbaoni said he expected the machine to run at full load once successfully acquired at end of the month.

"It is a series of machines that will be able to mince and mix the fish and exclude the waste", Mbauni said.

Once available, the machine will serve the 1000 fish farmers in the cooperative. Nyeri boasts close to 3000 fish farmers who are engaged in small scale fish farming.