When intentional people come together, they cause real economic transformation. Yesterday, on my way from Migori County, I dropped by the Rio Fish Ltd establishment at Opapo Fish Market in Homa Bay County. The fish facility was part of the economic stimulus projects set up by former President Uhuru in 2018 across various parts of the country. Rio Fish Ltd, led by the very able and amazing Angela Juliana O. and Joram Kabach took up and established one of Kenya’s best emerging players in the fish value chain. Working with over 700 women fish farmers, Rio Fish is already re-engineering and changing the narrative for women fisherfolk, from victims of predatory fish trade behaviors, to empowered producers.
I learnt that Rio Fish offtakes 3,000kgs of fish daily from the farmers and sells through their outlets spread across various parts of the country, including Nairobi. They work with the farmers through close monitoring to ensure quality output, which they harvest and take the market. The women farmers are assured of inputs and market offtake, translating into meaningful economic empowerment for them.
What’s more interesting? At the facility, Rio Fish has two large fishponds, where they don’t breed fish, but hyacinth! Yes they breed hyacinth. The firm has installed a bio-digestor where they mix fish-waste from their processing facility and hyacinth, to generate biogas that runs the entire facility! What an irony after such concerted efforts to get rid of hyacinth from Lake Victoria, terming it a menace.
Rio Fish is positioning as a crucial positive disruptor in Kenya’s fish value chain and the lake region blue economy as a whole. It is these kinds of initiatives that grow a country and create the much-needed jobs and economic growth.
However, for this to be achieved, there ought to be sufficient, commensurate and progressive macroeconomic policies that support the growth and not designed to overtax innovative hardwork and impede growth. For example, after all the efforts put by industry to revive and rebuild Kenya’s aquaculture sector, the Kenya Government has recently enacted the Fisheries Management Development Act 2024, with Regulations stating that from January 2025, every hatchery will pay an annual fees of KES50,000 for inspection and every cagefarm will also pay an annual fees KES50,000 plus an additional 5% of monthly and annual sales revenue. If these levies take effect, the aquaculture Industry is dead!
It is grossly disheartening that the Kenya government puts zero efforts to spur and support growth of sectors that create jobs, but are quick to draft and impose laws and policies and aim to impose punitive levies where they’ve not invested at all! This is completely unacceptable! Why punish innovative solutions that grow sectors and create jobs in a country that is crumbling at the weight of unemployment and poverty?
Mercy Chepkirui, Mercy Corps AgriFin, John Macharia, Sheena Raikundalia, Mercy Kimalat, Victor Otieno Agolla.
