Alleviating Hunger and Poverty Through Fish Farming

Project Code:   KEN/15/45  

Beneficiaries:

Direct 40 AMM members, 250 indirect and wider community 1500  

Background:

Climate change is having a great impact on rural communities who rely on small-scale farming for their livelihoods. This can lead to increased levels of poverty and hunger, with women and children, the majority in rural areas, being the most affected. Communities are thus often forced to find alternative sources of income and food to avoid becoming impoverished or food insecure. The Aka Ma Muikiio women’s group registered as a community self-help group in 2013 and its members have been practising small-scale subsistence farming for many years, but climatic conditions over the past five years have become progressively unfavourable for farming. Their reliance on seasonal rains has reduced their resilience, and because of a lack of rainfall, their crops have dried and died before maturity. Faced with this situation, the AAM wishes to diversify into fish farming. The group lacks full financial resources to do this but will be able to call on the community’s existing entrepreneurial skills.

Requesting group’s proposal

Funds are requested to construct three 288m2, mud ponds lined with high-quality plastic pond liners (0.75mm), that will not be easily damaged, and covered with wire mesh and netting to prevent leaves/dirt and birds from entering the ponds. Each pond would be run by 20 members. The ponds will be stocked with 3000 fingerlings of fish species most suited to the region’s climatic conditions, initially fast-maturing catfish, that will be fed with purchased starter, grower and finisher quality fish feed. The ponds will be stocked at different times so that the fish can be harvested at maturity at the preferred size for sale to local market/consumers. There is a ready market for fish within the area as there are no other fish suppliers within a radius of 50 km. The beneficiaries will have fish for their families and in addition the expected annual income will be used for: sharing among beneficiaries, ploughed back into the project, and admin/maintenance, with the remaining stock sold for income. The group has spoken to fish-farming experts/ officials in the region, as well as extension officers from the Machakos country ministry of livestock and fisheries, who have agreed to offer training and technical support throughout the project duration. Several members have since received capacity training in record/book keeping and financial management to ensure that proper and accurate records are kept, thus ensuring the project’s sustainability.

Requesting group inputs

The AAM will provide labour, part funding, some entrepreneurial expertise and locally available materials for the fish ponds.

Use of One Percent Funds

The One Percent Funds will be used to co-fund the project, paying for pond survey and digging costs, plastic lining (high-density polyethylene), net (top cover) wire mesh and binding wire, fish stock, feed-starter, grower, finisher.

Technical Assessment

The project proposal has been reviewed by FAO aquaculture specialists, who requested clarification of several technical and budgetary aspects and provided guidance on how to increase successful rearing/marketing/sale of the fish.  All queries were ultimately answered satisfactorily.