Development partners hail Kirinyaga's growth in commercial fish farming

The delegation, led by ABDP National Programme Coordinator Sammy Macharia, toured fish farming projects across the county to evaluate the impact of the eight-year programme, which supports smallholder farmers through investments in production, extension services, value addition and market development.

According to county officials, Kirinyaga has more than 1,600 commercial fish farmers and nine hatcheries producing fingerlings, with some farmers diversifying into ornamental fish production and hatchery enterprises.

Macharia said the programme has helped address production constraints in 15 counties by providing pond liners to reduce water losses, predator nets to minimise pre-harvest losses and extension services to improve farming practices.

He said fish production had increased significantly since the programme began in 2018, with many participating farmers now harvesting between 200 and 300 kilograms of fish annually compared with less than 10 kilograms previously.

Macharia also credited the county government for supporting aquaculture through technical staff and extension services, saying Kirinyaga's approaches were being adopted by other counties.

Governor Anne Waiguru said the county was working to transform fish farming into a commercial value chain, with current annual production standing at 71.3 tonnes against a target of 400 tonnes.

She said the county has supported farmers by providing pond liners, fingerlings, fish feeds and extension services, and recently acquired a fish feed extruder to help lower production costs.

County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture, Livestock, Veterinary and Fisheries John Gachara said the county had also established the Kiaga Fish Aggregation Centre to strengthen fish marketing while supporting farmers to expand production.

Michael Waweru, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Knowledge Management at IFAD-ABDP, said more than 1,200 farmers in Kirinyaga had received pond liners, enabling them to expand pond sizes from about 20–25 square metres to nearly 300 square metres.

He said the larger ponds had contributed to higher yields, with annual production rising from about 80 kilograms to approximately 144 kilograms per pond.

Waweru added that ornamental fish farming and hatchery development pioneered in Kirinyaga had since been introduced in other ABDP-supported counties.

Farmers who participated in the programme said the support had improved their incomes.

Margaret Wairimu, who began fish farming in 2022, said assistance with pond liners and fish feeds had enabled her to establish a commercial enterprise.

John Karoki, a fish farmer from Kiandai village, said he operates five ponds stocked with between 300 and 1,000 fingerlings each and uses staggered stocking to maintain year-round supply.

Karoki said he had earned more than Sh100,000 from fish sales this year, with fish reaching market size within six to seven months.