Surveyor scales the heights of fish farming

A 20-minute drive from Kakamega town gets you to Laban Mwanzo’s fish farm.

Named Labed Cash Marine Enterprise, the five-acre farm in Malava constituency is also where his homestead is located.

The well-planned farm hosts a greenhouse structure that is his hatchery and not far away sit seven ponds.

“I have 37 ponds, 30 ponds are on another farm not far from here,” says Mwanzo as he takes the Seeds of Gold team on a tour of the farm.

“Eighteen ponds have tilapia fish and the rest catfish. Each pond has a capacity of 1,000 fish. I keep tilapia mainly because that is the fish people in this area love.”

The farmer started the enterprise in 2008 after a friend working at Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Kilifi inspired him to venture into fish farming.

“Harrison Charo, who was the then KMFRI director, allowed me to visit his farm and I learnt the basics of fish farming. He later took me to Sagana KMFRI Fish Farm in Nyeri, where I picked more lessons and I was ready to start.”

From his savings, he spent Sh40,000 to dig two earthen 300 square metre ponds and bought 2,000 fingerlings at Sh10 each from Sang’oro KMFRI Station in Kisumu.

“We bought feeds from KMFRI for different fish stages to sustain their growth from fingerling to table-size fish. Each bag cost Sh5,000,” says the father of four.

The happy farmer, however, was shocked when eight months later he found himself struggling to sell the produce.

“It was discouraging, but demand for fish increased with time, enabling us to sell at Sh100 apiece. This motivated me to construct more ponds,” says Mwanzo, who sells his fish to Kakamega Fish Farmer Co-operative and to traders in Eldoret, Nandi, Vihiga, Kitale and Bungoma at Sh300 a kilo.

He has since invested Sh3 million in a 25m-by-15m hatchery that comprises recirculation tanks, a special trough, the greenhouse structure and a networking water system.

GREENHOUSES PROVIDE CONDUCIVE TEMPERATURES

With a brooding stock of 4,000 fish, the farm can produce more than 500,000 fingerlings per cycle.

Each pond has a 1:3 ratio of male to female fish for proper mating. The eggs are collected from the fish’s mouth before the hatching process begins.

“The greenhouse provides conducive temperature for hatching of the eggs since they need at least 23 degree Celsius and above,” he says, adding that his hatchery is certified by KMFRI.

Once they hatch, Mwanzo, who works as a surveyor in Kilifi, gives the fish for 28 days feeds that contain hormones that make them change sex to male. Sex reversal is important for fast growth of fish, he says. 

“It helps in elimination of over-reproduction, which leads to overstocking and production of small fish. When you mix both sexes, you are actually giving the fish room to use the available feeds to reproduce more than for growth."

He has employed two workers and a manager who is in charge of the hatchery and the entire fish production process.

Safina Musa, a researcher at KMFRI Kisii, says fish hatcheries must produce pure breeds. 

“We don’t need the crosses because they take long to grow. Quality fingerlings should be disease-free and hardy, without deformities and fast-growing,” says Musa, adding that farmers should buy fingerlings from authenticated government or private hatcheries.

Mwanzo sells his fingerlings to farmers in Kakamega, Vihiga and Kisumu, with a single 10g fingerling going for Sh10.

“We are two certified hatcheries in Kakamega, whoever between us gets the county government tender supplies fingerlings to farmers, but we help each other to meet the demand,” says the 50-year-old.

His main challenge is the high cost of fish feeds. A 25kg bag of feeds caters for three ponds every day, with the farmer using nine bags each day.

He plans to set up a state-of-the-art hatchery to help boost Kakamega County fish production, which currently stands at about seven tonnes a month.