76 year old woman builds wealth on fish

Topista Achom learned how to farm from her father. Over many years of hard work, she set up a successful farm, which includes a hatchery for fish among the many activities

The maxim that “hard work pays,” finds application in the life story of Topista Achom, a 76-year-old widow, whose passion for farming has earned her a fortune and a place among the successful farmers in Serere District.

On her 50 acre farm, there are fish ponds, goats, chicken, turkeys, pigs, ducks, cattle, vegetables, pine trees and several varieties of citrus. “I am reaping the fruits of my work,” she narrates.
She says she got the passion for farming and multiplying seedlings from her father, who was a chief in Masafu, now in Busia District, during the colonial time. It is this knowledge she later carried to her husband’s home in Serere.

Opportunity
After the death of her husband, Achom says life was difficult, such that when Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organisation came looking for widows to train in horticulture, agroforestry, goat keeping, poultry and aquaculture, she did not hestitate to join. “I jumped onto the bandwagon with hopes of having my children attain education,” she says.

Achom has 15 fish ponds, a hatchery, a water reserve pond and seven nursery ponds that aid her in raising young fish in the hatchery before they are transferred to the 15 by 15 metre ponds to mature.
Mr Charles Elaju, an aquaculture professional, says fish farming is a lucrative business once managed well. It involves raising fish commercially in tanks or ponds referred to as hatchery. The common types that are hatched and farmed in Africa are tilapia and catfish.

Replenish
Mr Francis Elotu, the farm manager who oversees the fish farm, affirms that a hatchery is vital in fish farming. “When digging nursery ponds they have to be wide enough to accommodate multiple fish,” he explains.

For the fish to mature, it takes about six months and after harvesting, the ponds are replenished with young fish from the hatchery.
At the big ponds, once in a while, he bubbles the water, which he says ensures enough supply of oxygen, a vital requirement for fish growth.
During dry spells, Elotu supplements their ponds with water from the reservoir and underground water, pumped directly to the 6,000-litre water tanks, which flows to the ponds using gravitational force.
“In every fish ponds, we have 600-1,000 fish that at its maturity, if well fed, each can weigh two to three kilogrammes,” he says.

Aquaculture is just part of what Achom is engaged in, and has plans to retire from the day-to-day activities and pass on management to one of her children. “I have laid a foundation for them to take on from me,” she says.

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