Vihiga, Kenya: Although Vihiga County is only 20km from Lake Victoria, but there has been an acute shortage of fish recently, despite the escalating demand.
Tigoi Fish Farm, strategically located along Kisumu-Kakamega highway at Boyani, is a project that seeks to offer alternative source of fish to residents at better prices.
Zinath Deen, who started the project in 1985, says she ventured into fish farming as a passion and an income generating activity.
“There has been a decrease in the supply of fish in the region from our major source, which is Lake Victoria. Residents of this region like eating fish, and I decided to offer them an alternative source,” she says.
She started actively engaging in fish farming in the past four years, and rears Tilapia and African Catfish species in seven ponds.
Ms Deen gets Sh250,000 per fish pond, as every standard pond carries 1,000 fish, after 6-8 months.
She further says that she harvests 10,000 to 15,000 fingerlings monthly which she sells at Sh7 and Sh8. The farmer supplements her income through fish feeds supply.
On her 2.5 acre piece of land, Deen has put up a green house, several fish ponds, a hatchery that has over 300 chicks and practises dairy farming.
She says mixed farming ensures the various products compliment each other.
Deen notes that although the county has inadequate land for farming, the same if properly utilised can be profitable.
“The county government should reach out to all farmers out here so that they can know what they are supposed to do with their small farms. I wouldn’t wish the people of this region to be always saying that they have no farms, because in other places, people plant crops in pots and sacks,” she says.
She encourages residents to seek proper means of engaging the county government so that they can benefit from the knowledge imparted in farmers.
Four years ago, the government offered to help in preparation of ponds and supply of fingerlings to boost fish farming.
But even as farmers seek alternative options from crop farming due to meagre production and inadequate land, this leaves a lot of questions on how to utilise infertile and tiny plots in the region.
In the past years, families got more than four acres of land for farming, but this has changed due to the growing population. “Average family size is seven children in the area. With this subdivision, you find there will no longer be land for even burying a relative in the future,” Wilberforce Agesa, Hamisi sub-county administrator says.
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For farmers like Deen however, there are options that if well exploited, food shortage in the area can be stemmed.
“If all options are kept constant, fish farming is good as it does not require a lot of space,” she says.
Deen observes that when she started keeping fish several years ago, she faced challenges but she didn’t give up.
She cites theft of fish as a major setback.
People were reluctant to rear fish because of the area’s proximity to Lake Victoria but the high prices and inadequate supply made the venture popular.
“Market women are the ones who often come to purchase fish whenever we are harvesting and thus making the work even easier because we don’t have to go looking for buyers,” she says.
Deen is now working on a greenhouse to engage in horticultural farming to exploit demand for the products in the county.
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