DOMINION FARM IN YALA SWAMP IN A MAJOR FISH FARMING PROJECT TO RE-STROCK THE RAPIDLY DECLINING STOCK IN LAKE VICTORIA

11/29/2006
GRANTS WECHE MOKADHO AGAJA KUYO BARUPE WECHE DONGRUOK MBAKA NONRO JEXJALUO NGECHE LUO GI GWENG' THUM TEDO LUO KITGI GI TIMBEGI SIGENDNI LUO THUOND WECHE ;	DOMINION FARM IN YALA SWAMP IN A MAJOR FISH FARMING PROJECT TO RE-STROCK THE RAPIDLY DECLINING STOCK IN LAKE VICTORIA By Leo Odera Omolo Kisumu 28th November 2006 The Dominion Farm Limited an American investor’s multimillion shillings farm, which is involved in the massive land reclamation project in River Yala and the surrounding wetland, has envisaged an ambitious development plan to embark on major fish farming project. It has already included aquaculture in its list of activities. This will entail fish farming within the farm aimed at producing a bout 10 million kilograms of fish per annum.Main in input to aquaculture include feeds (32 per cent crude protein)and electricity generation for intensive farming. Statistics recently released by the Fisheries Department of the Kenya government revealed a sharp decline in fish stocks and population in the Lake Victoria. The fish industry is the main stay of economic activities within Lake Basin regions In the year 2004 fishermen operating on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria landed 368,000 kilograms of fish while in the following year the catches had dropped drastically to only 168,000 kilograms, for the whole year, this was the lowest figure of all the times. The contribution of fisheries sub-sector to the GDP is between 5 and 8 per cent. The sub-sector employs over 80,000 people directly and over one million people are dependant on fish industry indirectly. Kenya shared the waters of Lake Victoria with the two neighnbouring states of Tanzania and Uganda with the Tanzania having the lion’s share of 52 per cent while Uganda has 42 per cent leaving Kenya with only paltry 6 per cent mainly along the narrow channel which is commonly known as Kavirondo Gulf. On the Kenya side, there are approximately over 6,500 boats currently actively operating in the Lake where 4 percent are motorized while the rest are manually propelled. Lake Victoria produces 90 percent of the fish in Kenya. This earns approximately Kshs 8 billion annually in export sales alone thereby heavily supplementing the earning of the much scarce foreign exchange for the country. The dominant species is the delicious Nile Perch, which accounts for over 60 percent of the total catch by weight. Nile Perch is very popular in hotel dishes both locally and internationally. It is also consumed widely domestically, especially within the communities of the Lake basin regions. Nile Perch is used in filleting in fish processing factories now scattered in major towns like Kisumu, Mombasa, Nairobi, Homabay and Migori. However ,due to over fishing ,the fish catches in Lake Victoria is reducing alarmingly and dangerously .The decline has reached the highest proportion in recent years. This drastic reduction in fish stock in the Lake could as well be attributed not only to over fishing, but partly to the use of illegal fishing gears, corruption on the part of officials and scouts from the fisheries department who are said to be receiving bribes and allowing the use of unauthorized sizes of fishing nets. In realization of this man-made calamities the Dominion Farm Limited based at Yala Swamp where an American entrepreneur and business magnate Mr. Calvin Burgess has sunk close to Kshs 2 billion has come forward with an ambitious plan to fill the gap. It is also now necessary for Kenya and other stakeholders in Lake Victoria to find other ways of producing fish and re-stocking the Lake with its indigenous fish species which have mysteriously disappeared in the recent past. Dominion Farm Limited is to introduce aquaculture in its multibillion shillings food production programme .It has included aquaculture in its long list of activities which included the production of rice,groundnuts,bee-keeping,cotton,sunflowers,soyabeans,vegetables and the planting of the anti-malarial Plant Artemisia. The project will entail fish farming within the 6500 hectares plus farming which is part of the reclaimed Yala Swamp land and wetlands. In along term farming plan, the DFL current projection is to produce 10 million kilo grams of fish per annum.Main input to aquaculture include feed (32 percent crude protein) and electricity generation for intensive farming. According to the Farm’s Country Director Mr. Grahame F.H Vetch, the farm intends to place 1m 3cages containing catfish in the drain canal collecting pond effluent. These catfish will have a reduced feed programme, the balance being made up from excess feeds and faecal matter from tilapia (ngege) ponds. This is a mitigation measure to ensure that water leaving the tilapia production ponds has minimal traces of phosphorous and nitrogen(the main causes of eutrophication). The water in the canal will then enter settling and collecting ponds where the fish faecal matter will be dredged and spread in the field on other crops as part of organic manure application. The downstream water will then be used for the irrigation of rice fields. This should also result in a significant reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers. The water from the irrigation scheme systems will further run through papyrus wetlands before finding its way eventually into Lake Victoria .A fish re-stocking programme with relevant tilapia species and African catfish (Clarias griedinus) will be undertaken where necessary to the adjacent Lake Kanyaboli and the river Yala The Dominions has so far employed 400 people on permanent jobs and on contracts. But there are workers numbering between 750 and 1,000 working for the farm as casual labourers. The fish farm project will create additional 300 jobs on permanent basis. The project is to starts with the initial production of 25,000 kilograms of the of fish annually and progressively reach the maximum production of 20 million kg per annum in five years time. It will stock tilapia species imported from Lake Kioge and Lake Albert in Uganda and three different species obtained locally from Lake Victoria, and Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. DFL will stock all water pools, rice paddies with African catfish to eat out mosquito larvae and snails (Bulinus sp) as biological control of malaria and bilharzias respectively. The region is prone to malaria epidemics. The irrigation canals will also be stocked with tilapia towards the extremeties to act as bio-indicators. Frequent water quality monitoring will ensure quality of the water downstream and the efficiency of biological treatment. Parameter such as temperature, ph and dissolved Do are already being monitored on a weekly basis. Other physicochemical parameters like nitrie, nitrate, heavy metals, pesticides, nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride will be thoroughly investigated on a regular basis. In a prepared work programme drawn by the DFL, it is notable that about 25 per cent of feed may be lost as uneaten feed and feaces. A large proportion of the applied P is removed by mud and pond sediments are usually considered the major sink for orthophosphate in fish ponds (44-46 per cent) in race way sediments and 60 per cent in cage fish culture). The net output of the three forms of N can amount to an annual output of 67.5 kg ton one of high fish produced. The planned action is to put half fed catfish in cages in effluent receiving canals to eat this left over feed. The remains will be recovered at the sludge ponds (scooped and used as organic fertilizer) and the water still run through the rice paddies where any remaining nitrogen and / or p will be taken up by rice. Dominion Farms intends to put up various processing facilities i.e fish processing factory, fish feed mill and hatchery. The processing facilities are expected to add value to the raw material produced on the farm and to process some of the by-products as inputs for other enterprises hence an efficient ecological disposal of same. This will also enhance the market entry for the products from the farm. The fish fillet from Lake Victoria has attracted large market in Europe, Middle East and the United Fish State where a kg of fish is fetching between 1 and 5 US dollars. This has made the/ processing industry a very lucrative business in the country. The Dominion Farm intends to establish a fish processing plant by the year 2008 with the capacity to process about 20 tons of fish daily. Processing live fish directly from its natural habitat will enhance the market share of Dominion Farm as it will provide into the market a highly prized delicacy. The fish processing plant will cover about 10,500 sq.ft. And will consist of changing rooms, hand wash, disinfecting, storage, laboratories, waste disposal, compressors, generator, power house, and loading bay, receiving bay, water coolers, stores and water tank. It will fillet fish for both export and local markets. The export products will initially be taken to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi. Eventually, with the upgrading of Kisumu Airport to an international status (which is currently in the pipeline) the fish will leave the country directly from Kisumu. The products will be fresh tilapia (ngege) and catfish fillets for export and local consumption on a 50-50 basis. Whole tilapia will be sold mainly to the domestic market. Other structures, which are in the pipeline, and which are also associated with aquaculture include feed mill (with the capacity to produce 2 tons of feed per hour), and hatchery that should produce one million fry monthly. Fish processing offal will be dried and made into fishmeal which will be sold to other fish farmers. Fish meal from tilapia will form feed component for catfish and vice versa. The major component of fish will be soyabeans, maize bran, Rastrineobola argental (Omena), and fillet remains with minor components constituted by cotton seed cake, mineral and vitamin premixes. The extraction of oil as an integral part of fish meal production is also considered a possibility. All the part source and the part animal feed source will be produced and processed within the Dominion Farm. This will take care of solid wastes 1.e body part such as head, scales, viscera, fins, bones, skins, from the fish processing plant. Liquid wastes will be allowed to pass through artificial wet; and using EM technology before the effluent can be discharged into papyrus wetland. Liquid wastes are wash/process water, which contain particles of solid wastes or suspensions of solid wastes. Much of the solid wastes and a huge amount of the liquid wastes will be processed into valuable byproducts. Any extra waste disposal will involve compositing them into decayed organic matter to be used mainly as fertilizers. Filtration of liquid wastes will remove most of the suspensions, which will be added to solid wastes used in composing. The fish feed mill will produce feed as the main product for use at the farm and any surpluses may be sold. At full efficiency, expected to be ready by the year 2009, the feed mill will be producing 120 tons of feed daily for 6 days a week for 52 weeks a year. This is also expected to create another 50 new jobs. The hatchery is expected to produce 1.2 million tilapia fry and about 0.8 African catfish fry per month. ENDS leooderaomolo@yahoo.com The writer is LUOCOME REPORTER based in Kisumu. We urge all LUOCOME members with pressing issues pertaining to media and press releases to kindly contact him from any where in world. He will assist you to get true picture of your Village Developement. LUOCOME-MEDIA ===================================================== Joluo.com Ka in gi mari moro ma di wandik ka to orni Akelo nyar Kager, jaluo@jaluo.com Daher winjo dwondi in bende, iwinjo?	IDWARO TICH? Inyalo oro twak kod weche manyien ne: Mig. Ajos wuod Atiga WuonAbila@jaluo.com GALAMORO : Riwruok mar JOLUO e Piny Ngima, orwaku uduto mondo ubed e kanyakla mar burani. Ornwa nyingi gi nondi kaka obedo. Riwruok e teko joka Nyanam. WENDO MIWA PARO OD PAKRUOK

DOMINION FARM IN YALA SWAMP IN A MAJOR FISH FARMING PROJECT TO RE-STROCK THE RAPIDLY DECLINING STOCK IN LAKE VICTORIA

By Leo Odera Omolo
    Kisumu
    28th November 2006

       The Dominion Farm Limited an American investor’s multimillion shillings farm, which is involved in the massive land reclamation project in River Yala and the surrounding wetland, has envisaged an ambitious development plan to embark on major fish farming project.    It has already included aquaculture in its list of activities. This will entail fish farming within the farm aimed at producing a bout 10 million kilograms of fish per annum.Main in input to aquaculture include feeds (32 per cent crude protein)and electricity generation for intensive farming. Statistics recently released by the Fisheries Department of the Kenya government revealed a sharp decline in fish stocks and population in the Lake Victoria. The fish industry is the main stay of economic activities within Lake Basin regions   In the year 2004 fishermen operating on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria landed 368,000 kilograms of fish while in the following year the catches had dropped drastically to only 168,000 kilograms, for the whole year, this was the lowest figure of all the times.

     The contribution of fisheries sub-sector to the GDP is between 5 and 8 per cent. The sub-sector employs over 80,000 people directly and over one million people are dependant on fish industry indirectly.

     Kenya shared the waters of Lake Victoria with the two neighnbouring states of Tanzania and Uganda with the Tanzania having the lion’s share of 52 per cent while Uganda has 42 per cent leaving Kenya with only paltry 6 per cent mainly along the narrow channel which is commonly known as Kavirondo Gulf.

       On the Kenya side, there are approximately over 6,500 boats currently actively operating    in the Lake where 4 percent are motorized while the rest are manually propelled. Lake Victoria produces 90 percent of the fish in Kenya. This earns approximately Kshs 8 billion annually in export sales alone thereby heavily supplementing the earning of the much scarce foreign exchange for the country. The dominant species is the delicious Nile Perch, which accounts for over 60 percent of the total catch by weight. Nile Perch is very popular in hotel dishes both locally and internationally. It is also consumed widely domestically, especially within the communities of the Lake basin regions. Nile Perch is used in filleting in fish processing factories now scattered in major towns like Kisumu, Mombasa, Nairobi, Homabay and Migori. However ,due to over fishing ,the fish catches in Lake Victoria is reducing alarmingly and dangerously .The decline has reached the highest proportion in recent years. This drastic reduction in fish stock in the Lake could as well be attributed not only to over fishing, but partly to the use of illegal fishing gears, corruption on the part of officials and scouts from the fisheries department who are said to be receiving bribes and allowing the use of unauthorized sizes of fishing nets. In realization of this man-made calamities the Dominion Farm Limited based at Yala Swamp where an American entrepreneur and business magnate Mr. Calvin Burgess has sunk close to Kshs 2 billion has come forward with an ambitious plan to fill the gap. It is also now necessary for Kenya and other stakeholders in Lake Victoria to find other ways of producing fish and re-stocking the Lake with its indigenous fish species which have mysteriously disappeared in the recent past. Dominion Farm Limited is to introduce aquaculture in its multibillion shillings food production programme .It has included aquaculture in its long list of activities which included the production of rice,groundnuts,bee-keeping,cotton,sunflowers,soyabeans,vegetables and the planting of the anti-malarial Plant Artemisia. The project will entail fish farming within the 6500 hectares plus farming which is part of the reclaimed Yala Swamp land and wetlands. In along term farming plan, the DFL current projection is to produce 10 million kilo grams of fish per annum.Main input to aquaculture include feed (32 percent crude protein) and electricity generation for intensive farming. According to the Farm’s Country Director Mr. Grahame F.H Vetch, the farm intends to place 1m 3cages containing catfish in the drain canal collecting pond effluent. These catfish will have a reduced feed programme, the balance being made up from excess feeds and faecal matter from tilapia (ngege) ponds. This is a mitigation measure to ensure that water leaving the tilapia production ponds has minimal traces of phosphorous and nitrogen(the main causes of eutrophication). The water in the canal will then enter settling and collecting ponds where the fish faecal matter will be dredged and spread in the field on other crops as part of organic manure application. The downstream water will then be used for the irrigation of rice fields. This should also result in a significant reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers. The water from the irrigation scheme systems will further run through papyrus wetlands before finding its way eventually into Lake Victoria .A fish re-stocking programme with relevant tilapia species and African catfish (Clarias griedinus) will be undertaken where necessary to the adjacent Lake Kanyaboli and the river Yala The Dominions has so far employed 400 people on permanent jobs and on contracts. But there are workers numbering between 750 and 1,000 working for the farm as casual labourers. The fish farm project will create additional 300 jobs on permanent basis. The project is to starts with the initial production of 25,000 kilograms of the of fish annually and progressively reach the maximum production of 20 million kg per annum in five years time. It will stock tilapia species imported from Lake Kioge and Lake Albert in Uganda and three different species obtained locally from Lake Victoria, and Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. DFL will stock all water pools, rice paddies with African catfish to eat out mosquito larvae and snails (Bulinus sp) as biological control of malaria and bilharzias respectively. The region is prone to malaria epidemics. The irrigation canals will also be stocked with tilapia towards the extremeties to act as bio-indicators. Frequent water quality monitoring will ensure quality of the water downstream and the efficiency of biological treatment. Parameter such as temperature, ph and dissolved Do are already being monitored on a weekly basis. Other physicochemical parameters like nitrie, nitrate, heavy metals, pesticides, nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride will be thoroughly investigated on a regular basis. In a prepared work programme drawn by the DFL, it is notable that about 25 per cent of feed may be lost as uneaten feed and feaces. A large proportion of the applied P is removed by mud and pond sediments are usually considered the major sink for orthophosphate in fish ponds (44-46 per cent) in race way sediments and 60 per cent in cage fish culture). The net output of the three forms of N can amount to an annual output of 67.5 kg ton one of high fish produced. The planned action is to put half fed catfish in cages in effluent receiving canals to eat this left over feed. The remains will be recovered at the sludge ponds (scooped and used as organic fertilizer) and the water still run through the rice paddies where any remaining nitrogen and / or p will be taken up by rice. Dominion Farms intends to put up various processing facilities i.e fish processing factory, fish feed mill and hatchery. The processing facilities are expected to add value to the raw material produced on the farm and to process some of the by-products as inputs for other enterprises hence an efficient ecological disposal of same. This will also enhance the market entry for the products from the farm.

The fish fillet from Lake Victoria has attracted large market in Europe, Middle East and the United Fish State where a kg of fish is fetching between 1 and 5 US dollars. This has made the/ processing industry a very lucrative business in the country. The Dominion Farm intends to establish a fish processing plant by the year 2008 with the capacity to process about 20 tons of fish daily. Processing live fish directly from its natural habitat will enhance the market share of Dominion Farm as it will provide into the market a highly prized delicacy. The fish processing plant will cover about 10,500 sq.ft. And will consist of changing rooms, hand wash, disinfecting, storage, laboratories, waste disposal, compressors, generator, power house, and loading bay, receiving bay, water coolers, stores and water tank. It will fillet fish for both export and local markets. The export products will initially be taken to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi. Eventually, with the upgrading of Kisumu Airport to an international status (which is currently in the pipeline) the fish will leave the country directly from Kisumu. The products will be fresh tilapia (ngege) and catfish fillets for export and local consumption on a 50-50 basis. Whole tilapia will be sold mainly to the domestic market. Other structures, which are in the pipeline, and which are also associated with aquaculture include feed mill (with the capacity to produce 2 tons of feed per hour), and hatchery that should produce one million fry monthly. Fish processing offal will be dried and made into fishmeal which will be sold to other fish farmers. Fish meal from tilapia will form feed component for catfish and vice versa. The major component of fish will be soyabeans, maize bran, Rastrineobola argental (Omena), and fillet remains with minor components constituted by cotton seed cake, mineral and vitamin premixes. The extraction of oil as an integral part of fish meal production is also considered a possibility. All the part source and the part animal feed source will be produced and processed within the Dominion Farm. This will take care of solid wastes 1.e body part such as head, scales, viscera, fins, bones, skins, from the fish processing plant. Liquid wastes will be allowed to pass through artificial wet; and using EM technology before the effluent can be discharged into papyrus wetland. Liquid wastes are wash/process water, which contain particles of solid wastes or suspensions of solid wastes. Much of the solid wastes and a huge amount of the liquid wastes will be processed into valuable byproducts. Any extra waste disposal will involve compositing them into decayed organic matter to be used mainly as fertilizers. Filtration of liquid wastes will remove most of the suspensions, which will be added to solid wastes used in composing. The fish feed mill will produce feed as the main product for use at the farm and any surpluses may be sold. At full efficiency, expected to be ready by the year 2009, the feed mill will be producing 120 tons of feed daily for 6 days a week for 52 weeks a year. This is also expected to create another 50 new jobs. The hatchery is expected to produce 1.2 million tilapia fry and about 0.8 African catfish fry per month.

ENDS
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

The writer is LUOCOME REPORTER based in Kisumu. We urge all LUOCOME members with pressing issues pertaining to media and press releases to kindly contact him from any where in world. He will assist you to get true picture of your Village Developement.
LUOCOME-MEDIA