Farmer’s view on how to boost fish farming
Ssekyewa shows where he nurtures tilapia fingerlings in hapas on his farm. There is need for deliberate efforts to increase fish production in Uganda through various methods. PHOTO BY MICHAEL J SSALI
Paul Ssekyewa, proprietor of Ssenya Fish Farms in Lwengo District, has been in the business of fish seed production and grow-out fish farming (table fish) for almost 20 years.
For him, it has been a period of observation and learning. The fish farm has been a learning centre, where other farmers and university students have acquired various fish farming skills, which include rice-and-fish production mix.
In addition to his personal experience, Ssekyewa has observed fish farmers in Uganda, and visited others in Egypt, Norway, Kenya, Thailand and China. He recently shared some of his observations and ideas about fish farming with Seeds of Gold.
Exploit the potential
Ssekyewa believes that as a country endowed with many natural water bodies, Uganda has the capacity for massive national fish production. However, little has been done to exploit that potential.
“Globally, over 50 per cent of fish is farmed but in Africa, which has many water bodies, just only one per cent of the fish we consume is farmed. This is mainly done by Egypt, which produces more fish by farming using River Nile,” he noted.
“We have people roaming the lakes on canoes hunting fish. In lots of cases, people have drowned in that old fashioned struggle to get fish. Our fish sector is largely in the hunting and gathering stage.”
Diversify
He feels agriculture in Uganda to be geared towards fish production (aquaculture).
He explains: “If we are going to expand fish production, we must grow crops that support fish farming.
The regions gifted with swamps, rivers, and lakes are not growing the crops needed to make fish feeds.
The farmers should diversify their crop production. We should be growing more maize, sunflower, and soya bean to support fish feeds factories. It would result in more employment opportunities and better nutrition for an expanding population.”
Also, government should provide opportunities for agriculture extension workers to get extra training from places such as Egypt and Asia—where fish farming is taken seriously.
There is need for more research for improved fish breeds just as is done with crops, and also for increased research in entomology to produce insects that can be used to make fish feeds.
Ssekyewa asserts that the lakes are overfished and need restocking. But he is also aware that given the high demand for fish, it has become difficult to periodically stop people from fishing to give time for young fish to grow.
“We should regularly take stock of fish in the lakes to ensure constant production. We have some farmers who are successful with fish farming in ponds and cages.”
His view is that there should be an arrangement where farmed fish is allowed into the market with minimum interference from the capture fisheries.
It would be the right time to suspend fishing on the lakes to allow restocking and natural recovery. “This is all the bigger reason for us to take fish farming more seriously,” he says.
“However, without alternative sources of fish, it will be difficult to enforce the laws for periodic suspension of fishing in the lakes.”
Better methods
As way of practising what he preaches, Ssenya Fish Farms can now make fish cages and Ssekyewa encourages farmers to adopt cage fish farming.
For demonstration, there are some cages at the farm from which a farmer may harvest as much as four tonnes of mature fish within a few months.
“When you rear fish in a cage, you know where your fish are. It is easy for you to feed them and to monitor them.
The feeds are placed exactly where the fish are and it is easy to monitor their growth.
Since they are confined in one place, with good feeding, they grow fast because they do not use much energy wandering in far off areas.
“Caged fish is easy to protect from vectors and also quite easy to harvest. It provides an excellent opportunity for producing big fish volumes in a small area and in relatively a short time,” he says.
Integration
On the Operation Wealth Creation programme, Sekyewa points out that there should be a deliberate effort to interest and empower fishermen on the lakes to participate in cage fish farming.
The fishermen know the intricacies of lake water and can quite easily be introduced to good cage fish farming.
Once they are given an alternative source of fish, bad fishing practices will gradually disappear. At the moment, these fishermen are making losses because of low fish catches.
Ssenya Fish Farms, which is a family business, has more than 60 ponds of varying sizes. Many more hatcheries have been constructed to meet the growing demand for fish seed.
“We get orders not only from across Uganda but also from Rwanda and DR Congo,” discloses Paul Ssekyewa, the proprietor.
“We are in a position to supply seed for Tilapia Nilotica, Tilapia Esculenta, Tilapia Variabilis, African Cat-fish, Uganda Carp (Barbus Alitienalis), Victoria Carp (Labeo Victorianus), Mirror Carp, Silver Carp, Grass Carp, Big-head Chinese Carp and Cray Fish.”
Their clients can get mono-sex or mixed-sex tilapia fingerings. “We intend to produce fish feeds.
We have imported the machinery and we hope to get sufficient power supply, which is needed to operate the factory that is already in place.”
An accountant by profession, Ssekyewa left his job at Masaka Cooperative Union nearly 30 years ago to become a full time farmer.
He started with crops and livestock before venturing into fish farming some twenty years ago. It has taken him time to master the skills of fish farming like seed production, grow-out, and fish feed production.
The family invested quite heavily in technology transfer from experts from Kenya.
He and some of his children have been to other countries in search of exposure and they continue to read widely about fish farming. The farm has on-going internal research programmes.
It is also involved in collaborative research with National Agricultural Research Organisation and Makerere University.
Three research programmes are on-going about the Uganda Carp (ekisinja), the Tilapia Esculenta, and three Chinese Carps for adaptation.
The nursery ponds at the site are fenced off with wire mesh and plastic sheets to prevent reptiles and other wild animals while the top is covered with gill nets to stop birds from getting to the fish growing in the pond.
