Kabarole farmers decry poor yields from fishing project

KABAROLE – Farmers in Kabarole district are counting losses after investing in a cage fishing project that has produced poor yields.

In October last year, government through the National Agricultural Advisory Services [NAADS] launched a Shs 5 billion project to promote cage fish farming on the crater lakes in Kabarole district.

However, seven months later, farmers have harvested poor fish yields, earning less money than what was invested.

According to the chairperson Nyabweya Twimukye Fish Farming Group, Samuel Asinguza, they invested about Shs 4.5mln but they have harvested fish worth about Shs 1mln, which he said is a big loss.

“We received two fish cages that were installed in Nzigamira Crater Lake in Kasenda Sub-county and more than 5000 fingerlings were stocked in the two cages. Today [Friday], we have harvested one of the cages but we are disappointed with what we have found there,” Asinguza said.

He said that much as the farmers still like the project, “It is so disappointing to invest a lot of money in such a project and you end up getting less than even what you invested.”

“There might be good money in this project but we need to at least have a demonstration garden as a pilot project. Let government invest at least 90 percent and farmers put in the 10 percent and we first learn from it,” Asinguza observed.

Gideon Ruta the district councilor representing Kasenda Subcounty but is also a beneficiary of the project said the fingerlings that were supplied to farmers were of poor quality, which led to poor yields.

“I think the government should double their efforts to establish what the cause was. Whether it is the nature of the water in the lakes or the quality of the fingerings that were supplied,” Ruta said.

He said government should revise its top- to- bottom approach when dealing with communities, which he said has cost the farmers in the cage fishing project.

“This is very embarrassing because government has invested a lot of money. The fish we have harvested is of a small size much as they were mature enough,” he said.

The Kabarole district fisheries officer, Brian Baguma said they expected better results at the begging of the project. However, like farmers, he said the fish harvests are embarrassing.

Baguma said they encountered challenges in monitoring the project because of lack of the equipment such as boats for use in monitoring the fish cages.

He said though government gave them start-up feeds, it was a challenge for members to contribute to the feeds, as they were expensive.

“The startup feeds that were given to these groups were lasting for three months however; others used only what was given to them throughout.”

He said the fish species that were supplied to farmers were verified and supplied by NAADS.

He however noted that despite the fact that the fingerlings were supplied by NAADS, the district technical team should be provided with the necessary equipment to monitor the project.

“For example, we were supposed to do sampling and grading but this was not done. We were supposed to separate the big fish from the smaller fish. We were also supposed to remove the inner net at two months but all these were not done because there was no boat to use,” he said.

The Kabarole Resident District Commissioner, Festus Bandeeba said that they have been receiving reports about the poor performance of the fish project in terms of lesser yields.

He said his office would engage the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal husbandry and Fisheries [MAAIF] to ensure they bring in researchers to establish what could have gone wrong.

“I have also realised that there is no monitoring boat that would have been used to monitor the progress of the project. The technical team should be very close to these farmers, advising them on what to do,” he said.

Kabarole district has 49 crater lakes, which are mainly used, as tourist sites with few fishing activities. Of the 49 crater lakes, only 22 were tested and cleared for cage fish farming.

Seven crater lakes were identified to kick start the project, two from Ruteete, four from Kasenda and one from Kichwamba.

These crater lakes were selected after a feasibility study on the nature of the waters and their history of supporting fish life.

https://thecooperator.news/government-to-scaleup-fish-farming-says-adoa-fisheries-minister/

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