A high powered delegation from the ABDP Project Steering Committee (PSC) led by the Chairman, who is also the Secretary of Fisheries and Blue Economy, Mr. Rodrick Kundu, was on a supervision mission in Kisumu.
The aim of the mission is to check on the progress of the project, its impact on the people and the challenges experienced by the farmers of the implementing Counties in Western and Nyanza regions.
Prior to field visits, the PSC team were briefed on the project; its achievements and challenges across the County.
During the brief, Kisumu was commended for good progress especially on matters inclusivity and for developing a nutrition guide for adolescent mothers. However, emphasis was laid on planting more trees as per the requirements of the project.
The PSC team comprising members from state departments and county governments visited two farming groups in Kisumu.
The PSC team visited the EnviroAgric Youth group in Rabuor, Nyando Sub County.
The youth group is formulating an alternative fish feeds from the black soldier fly technology.
They use waste from slaughter house to feed maggots which they sell as fish feeds, this also helps in waste management.
ABDP programme has since linked the group to farmers who buy feeds from them. The group led by their chairman, Leonard Were are champions who have benefited from ABDP trainings.
In Awasi Onjiko Ward, wang’nga sub location, the mission team also met a group of fish farmers at the farm of Mr. Joash Juma Abende.
After receiving support of a pond liner and fingerlings, Joash has harvested three times and ploughed back the proceeds into pond construction. Today, he has added two more ponds and the three are currently stocked with 1,000 fingerlings each.
The fish farmers in Awasi Onjiko Ward are enthusiastic of increasing the number of ponds to increase fish production but they experience some challenges that draw them back.
The challenges include: lack of quality feeds and fingerlings, hence they experience breeding of the fingerlings, floods during rains and lack of water during droughts, market linkages among others.
The PSC team advised the farmers to take note of weather information and consider early harvesting , apply for grants to help them acquire machines, liaise with extension officers for quality feeds and fingerlings, to harvest partially as they do value addition when there is no ready market and to construct dykes using a technology that would retain their fish during floods.
