By MKT Correspondent
Tharaka Nithi County bagged three prestigious awards at Aquaculture Business Development Programme (ABDP’s) fourth Annual National Stakeholders Review Workshop.
The forum, held in Nyeri County was themed “Aquaculture for Improved Livelihoods – The Next Frontier.”
The County led by Governor Muthomi Njuki was recognized as the best county in Targeting and Production, Data Analysis, and the first runners-up in Complementary Support out of 15 participating devolved governments.
Speaking at the event, the Tharaka Nithi Deputy Governor Muisrael Nyaga emphasized the county’s commitment to enhancing aquaculture and improving the livelihoods of the county residents.
“Many county residents have embraced fish farming and is slowly becoming an economic venture with production shooting from 5000 kilograms in 2017 to 51,000 kilograms in 2023,” said Mr Muisrael.
He said the county has for long been mainly known for growing coffee, tea, greengrams, and sorghum but fish farming has now joined the list.
He said the growth could mainly be attributed to the national and county government’s efforts to promote farming and fish consumption through ABDP.
So far, 2200 farmers are rearing fish through the ABDP programme, farmers who are organized into small groups benefit from pod liners, fingerings, feed, harvesting nets, and freezers for storing harvested fish awaiting market or value addition.
Though fish is not a common delicacy in the Mt Kenya region compared to the coastal and lake regions, the county residents are slowly embracing it mainly due to its rich nutritional value.
Emerging lifestyle diseases including those related to eating habits, health experts also encourage people to consume white meat and fish is one of them and is rich in protein.
The high cost and shortage of feed are the major setbacks in this venture and if a solution is not found farmers may not continue recording great growth.
The cost of 25 kilograms of commercial fish feed increased to Sh4500 from Sh2800 in the last few years and the prices are set to skyrocket with the introduction of new taxes by the national government.
Some farmers have resulted in growing Azolla, an aquatic plant that is harvested after every three weeks and is favorable for tilapia fish as a supplement to commercial feeds.
Availability of fingerings was also another challenge that has so far been solved by some farmers who have established hatcheries where the local farmers now conveniently buy the fingerings.
Initially, the farmers had to travel to Thika, Sagana and Machakos and as a result of poor handling, sometimes the fingerings died during transportation.
Recently the county government donated freezers to the farmers where they can store their fish for several days without rotting as they look for a market.
During the issuance at Mitheru in Maarc constituency, Governor Njuki said his government will also establish a fish centre in Chuka town with big freezers where farmers will be delivering their fish for storing and even selling.
The county boss said though he is encouraging the expansion of the local market, his target is to export fish that has already been processed for value addition.
“As a government, we are dedicated to promoting fish farming and that is why we have given farmers freezers, feeds and harvesting nets. Farmers have also been receiving fingerings and liners from my government,” said Governor Njuki.
To ensure the availability of adequate and cheap fish feed which is currently bought as far as Uganda, Njuki said he will promote local production by providing free sunflower seeds to farmers starting next rainy season.
Suleiman Mbatiah