Women venture in fish cage farming to curb sexual exploitation

Fish cage established by a women group in Lake Victoria at Nyagina beach in Mbita Sub-county on September 24, 2024. [James Omoro, Standard]

A group of women operating in Lake Victoria can now breathe a sigh of relief after some organisations rolled out empowerment programme to protect them from sexual exploitation.

The women who operate in Mbita sub-county, Homa Bay county are being empowered to invest in fish cage farming.

The Rusinga Nile Perch women group, operating at Nyagina beach in Rusinga island is being supported by non-governmental organisations led by Farm Africa to engage in fish cage farming.

Farm Africa Country Director, Mary Nyale, said the project involves giving the women fingerlings and a fish cage with a capacity of 35,000 fingerlings.

Nyale was speaking at Nyagina beach during a tour of the aquaculture project.

"Our aquaculture project has begun in Lake Victoria. We have already installed a fish cage which currently has 35,000 fingerlings," she said.

The Farm Africa Country Director said their objective is to enable the women to achieve financial independence through producing and selling fish.

"We intend to enable these women to earn a living and become job creators," she said.

Nyale revealed that they started the project after the women informed them that they were undergoing sexual exploitation at the hands of fishermen.

Some fishermen demanded to have sex with the women before giving them fish to sell.

"We started this project after the women complained that some fishermen were exploiting them. We want them to produce and sell fish without relying on the men with the intention of exploiting them sexually," Nyale said.

She said they had trained the women on fish production and they would link them to buyers when the fish is mature.

The chairperson of the women's group, Betina Ochola, described the initiative as a game-changer that will save them from sexual exploitation by men.

"The exchange of fish for sex is a serious problem that affects us. This project will enable us to produce our own fish, meaning we will not rely on such men anymore," Ochola said.

Cynthia Auma, a member of the group, said their goal is to buy another cage.

"Our objective is to become financially stable as a group and buy another cage later," Auma said.