One thousand one hundred forty fish farmers from Matayos, Teso South, Nambale Samia and Butula Sub Counties have received ninety-five tons of fish feeds to address the challenge of access to high-quality and affordable fish feeds.
The initiative is through a partnership between the County Government of Busia through the support of the Aquaculture Development Business Programme (ADBP).
CEC Member for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Agri-business Dr Ciiplicious Mukok said the feeds worth Kes 20 million will benefit the farmers highly.
He called upon the youth to engage in fish farming and diversify their farming activities to increase their income sources.
“We also have edible oils, sunflower, cotton,” he said.
Further, he said farmers should increase acreage to take surplus to Nasewa Industrial Park.
The Chief Officer in charge of fisheries, Timothy Odende, said the feeds are supposed to produce 70 tons of fish.
“In another five or six months, I expect to see that the farmers across the county who are participating in the programme have produced about 70 tons of fish,” he told the technical team from the fisheries department.
Odende urged the beneficiaries to ensure they take good care of their fish, harvest them and find a way of ploughing back.
“We will work on the aqua parks and we have markets here at the border that can buy the fish,” he said.AD
He added that the County government will also work on the cooperatives to mop up the fish so that farmers get value for their money.
