A fish farmer from Umoja Village in Lugari Ward, Lugari Sub-county, displaying his products/WKT
Fish farmers in Lugari Sub-county, Kakamega County, have benefited from a donation of 21.5 tons of fish feed in a program aimed at promoting the enterprise.
The Aquaculture Business Development Program (ABDP) distributed the feeds to 113 fish farmers to scale up its initiative towards reducing poverty, increasing food security, and improving nutrition for rural communities.
Caleb Sifuna, the Sub-County Fisheries Officer, urged residents to take up the farming of fish as a sustainable income generating activity, adding that the program will run for eight years, enough for farmers to change their lives.
“The farmers have received free fish feeds today, and we appeal to them to capitalize on the support to boost fish production in the sub-county. From the free feed we have distributed, we expect a harvest of over 10 tons of fish.
“The support is also meant to encourage them to be self-reliant in that when they harvest fish from their ponds, they will be able to sustain themselves without relying on the government,” Sifuna said during the distribution exercise in Lumakanda on Friday.
Farmers under the program will also receive pond liners, which are important during droughts or in places with inadequate water.
“The fish farmers are also facing theft challenges, and in some instances, birds and other wild animals are invading their ponds. Henceforth they will be given predator protection nets to safeguard the ponds,” Sifuna said.
ABDP is conducting the exercise across Kakamega County, where 581 farmers will also receive 1000 monosex tilapia fingerlings each.
Sam Oduor is the editor-in-chief at the Western Kenya Times who leverages the power of the Internet in telling stories that shape opinions.
