The Kenya Market-led Aquaculture Program (KMAP) has introduced an initiative involving animal husbandry that is set to boost aquaculture in Kenya. KMAP, which runs from 2016-2019, is a program by Farm Africa, a charity organization. It covers 14 counties in Kenya’s central and Lake Victoria regions.
The program serves to provide training on aquaculture. This has since enabled the farmers to to harness the sector’s opportunities. In addition to the training, KMAP also provides valuable links to farmers.
Demand for fish in Kenya is on the rise courtesy of fast population growth of around 3% on yearly basis and increased awareness of the nutritional value of fish. Unfortunately, the country’s fish production is heavily reliant on wild fish caught in its lakes whose stocks are sharply declining.
Furthermore, earlier on this year, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported that over the last five years fish landed, has declined from over 163,000 tons in 2013 to 135,000 tons last year. This has since led to scarcity and high costs. This is despite the country having over 1.14m hectares of land ideal for aquaculture as per the 2017 Aquaculture Report of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI).
Teddy Nyanapa explains that the program encompasses all players in the fish value chain. These include farmers, feed manufacturers and fish traders. He further added that apart from fish husbandry practices, farmers are also trained on book keeping and financial matters. They have enlisted some 1,100 farmers so far.
