Govt allocates Shs12b for two aquaculture training parks

Government has finalised plans to allocate Shs12b to construct two aquaculture parks where youth and women will be skilled in fish farming.

Speaking to the media during the orientation of trainers in Kampala, early this week, the acting director Fisheries Resources at the Agriculture ministry, Joyce Ikwaput Nyenko said that each aquaculture park will cost Shs6b. They are expected to be completed by June this year.

The orientation which was organised by Caritas Uganda, the development arm of the Catholic Church in Uganda, aimed at providing an avenue for stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to reflect together on the opportunities that the fisheries sector is offering on the transformation of the lives of Ugandans.

The aqua parks, according to Ikwaput, will be a complete value chain. 

The facilities in the aqua parks will include hatcheries for production of young fish, ponds, tanks, training facilities, cages, big feed stores, mini-feed manufacturing facilities, Ice making facilities, slabs for cleaning and running water.

Ms Ikwaput said that through a five-year strategic plan the government is committed to support the fishing sector to further grow across the entire value chain and also increase the productivity level.

“We want an area where you can have the production systems brought together starting with the production of seed itself, production of feeds, table food, marketing facilities such as the cold rooms where to bulk and preserve the fish, smoking facilities, training facilities,” Ikwaput said.

She revealed that the parks will be assembled at Taragoli along the River Nile in Apac District and Mwema Bay on Lake Victoria in Kalangala District.

“We have also identified a number of areas which are suitable for more aqua parks including one in Mpologoma area,” she said.