Ngora cooperative impacting communities through youth-led fish farming project

NGORA– At the beginning, it seemed like it was an ambitious project for the youth of Ngora District Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Society as they presented their idea of fish farming during the No Excuses Legacy Awards held in Kampala in April this year by The Uhuru Institute for Social Development [TUI].

Today, the youth members of the cooperative are running a fishpond project and have invested all their energies and time in it after they received financial support. The venture is changing their lives and they are not looking back.

The youth were awarded Shs 2 million by TUI to finance their innovative idea. This is after they came second in the annual TUI No Excuses Legacy Awards. It is this seed capital that has propelled their fortunes in aquaculture.

The Journey

At the No Excuses Legacy Awards held in Kampala, Samuel Otim, the team leader aquaculture at Ngora District Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Society, presented a proposal that he said would depend on organic feeds like ordinary food items, chicken droppings and other crops generated from within the community.

The project proposal would win them Shs 2mln which was used to launch the enterprising journey.

Part of the money was used to be invested in a poultry farm in a home of a member of the cooperative, supervised by the cooperative’s leadership. At least 400, 000 was invested in the construction of a pen, procuring feeds, procuring 200-day-old kroiler chicks and other simple veterinary services that would ensure the safety of the birds.

“This was tactical because we wanted to have a steady source of chicken dropping that would act as food for our aquaculture project, so members also contributed some logistics to this cause at the start,” Otim told this reporter.

Getting land for the fish pond project

The cooperative was leased land in a swamp owned by the community in Kosim-Kaderun village, Atoot Sub-county. Part of the land is also owned by one of the cooperative members, who staked it as his contribution to the aquaculture project.

At least two ponds were constructed by the community and the cooperative’s members provided manual labour, with the guidance of the district fisheries department.

“For the community to be part of the project, we involved them right from the start, especially since the swamp is owned by them. We had to have them all on board, otherwise, we would have endless confrontations,” Otim says.

With the guidance of the local council leadership, the cooperative’s members dug a water spring that would provide clean water for the community, but also deter them from drawing water from the fish ponds.

The benefits

Martin Okiror, a resident says the aquaculture project has helped the youth to get the skills of managing ponds, but also has provided some of them with employment.

“Our youth are now busy working. This is a good start for our area. We harvest water from the source they dug for us, but our young men are also learning,” he said.

Otim says in the beginning it was not an easy venture to pull off, with the community members doubting whether this would raise the money, given the limited knowledge and skills required to run the fish pond project.

“We did have an idea but not clear on its execution, which caused a lot of people including the cooperative’s members doubting it, but today here we are,” he said.

Otim says the community took time to appreciate it, but apparently many are positive and quite supportive to the expansion of the project.

“We have employed some boys already, some are collecting organic foodstuffs, while another two are engaged in collecting termites for the fish, so they are engaging every day in feeding the fish,” he noted.

Cecilia Asekenye, 53, has two boys who are employed as caretakers at the project and she is proud.

“My sons are employed and I am sure they are learning how to take care of fish. Previously they only knew how to fish, but today they can also take care of the fish.”

Otim says so far the aquaculture project employs five young men, who take secure care of the ponds, guarding against predators such as snakes, birds and other wild animals as well as thieves.

Otim adds that these were employed as casual workers, paid Shs 5,000 per day, alongside a bonus of one catfish every Saturday.

The Cooperative members also spend considerable time at the ponds, supervising. Other responsibilities include coordination to ensure that the boys bring the feeds on time.

Mwalimu Patrick, a member of Ngora District farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, also one of the volunteers at the pond says the progress of the fish project is encouraging.

“We are energized by the progress of this project and we have high hopes that we shall earn from this and change our lives.”

He says working together with the community has added a great deal to their success.

“The Community ensures that there is nobody grazes animals near the ponds, they are very strict with the pond. They are learning and so guarding the projects,” he says.

The Cooperative used traditional methods to dig the ponds. The Ponds are made with slanting edges not to allow birds to perch at the pond, giving them an opportunity to catch the fish.

Returns

Catfish is one of the most famous delicacies in Teso region, regarded as very nutritious compared to none. The demand for fish in this region is high.

Sam Otim expects the cooperative to harvest the fish in November – December season, when reportedly demand is highest due to the festive season. Otim says the Cooperative expects to earn at least Shs 5mln from the fish in the ponds.

The fish market is not only in Ngora town but also in other surrounding districts of Soroti, Kumi, Serere and Pallisa.

Illemukolit Martha, a fish vendor in Ngora Market, says consumption of fish is high although its supply is limited.

“We have the buyers but on many occasions, we do not have enough fish. We have heard that the Cooperative has fish. For us, we are waiting to buy.”

Said Marko runs a food shark in Kumi and is hopeful that once he gets to know the actual source, he will go for the fish.

“We want the fish. If it is in Ngora, we shall go and buy it. Our customers are demanding so we look forward to buying the fish from the cooperative,” said Marko.

Value addition

The Cooperative plans to start value addition to their fish, to enable them to command a higher price on the market.

After studying the market dynamics, Otim says plans are being made to add value by smoking the fish, and packing and selling it in Kampala, Jinja, Lira and Gulu.

The future projection

Otim shares that the cooperative envisages the construction of at least 10 more fish ponds, each with the capacity to hold 3,000 fingerlings.

“We want to have at least 10 fish ponds in this area with a minimum capacity of 3,000 fish fingerlings in each of the ponds,” he says.

With such an increased capacity, the cooperative business projections stand at approximately Shs 8mln – Shs 10mln every three months.

Ngora District Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Society also envisages the construction of a water reservoir that would be critical in providing water during the dry spells.

“Also we need a freshwater reservoir with the capacity of more than 10,000 millilitres, which will save us during the long droughts,” said.

Otim reveals that the Cooperative plans to plough the returns back into the project, digging more fish ponds, construction of a perimeter fence around the site and buying fast-maturing fish species.

Challenging times

Some challenges

Otim says the project was confronted by the scarcity of feeds for the fish, especially organic food.

This stunted the fish as feeding was poor, thus spending more time on the farm and eating into the profits of the project.

“The feeds are very expensive yet the fish eat all the time. They also reproduce thus the amount of fish you plan to feed is not actually what is in the pond.

“Their reproduction rate is high, and whenever you bring the feeds, the big ones do not come out to fight for food, and they get stunted,” noted.

Besides the high costs of the feeds, there was an endless invasion by predators like wild cats, snakes, foxes and birds as well as people bringing animals to drink from the ponds. These were stopped after the community was engaged on several fronts to avert the attacks.

Impacting communities

The cooperative expects to impact the community in a long run through financial empowerment and poverty alleviation as it recruits more members.

The Shs 2mln award has been grown and the returns from the poultry project all ploughed back into the Aquaculture project, and Otim estimates that at least a profit of Shs 2.1mln has so far been realised.

“We estimate that at least Shs 2mln has been realised with the initial Shs. 2m invested. The poultry project gave us a good start and we had to plough back the proceeds into the fish pond,” he added.

Apparently, Ngora District farmers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Society has made savings of up to Shs 19mln, has a loan portfolio of Shs 34mln and active membership of 54 people.

https://thecooperator.news/how-smoked-fish-vendors-co-op-is-fighting-climate-change-in-gabon/

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