Seasoned fishermen abandon nets for hoes

Kenya: It is a dark cold morning as a group of fishermen head to Lake Victoria to do what they have done for years.

The silence is broken by croaking frogs, heavy breathing and the sound of oars hitting the cold water as the fishermen head deeper in search for the fast disappearing Nile Perch.

Hours later, the tired, sweating and hungry group trudged back to the beach, clutching a small bag with ten fish.

It has been another long and disappointing day as fish stocks continue to  decline due to over fishing.

Ten meters away and on the shores of the lake, a group of crop farmers are all smiles as they harvest cabbages, tomatoes and kale before loading them onto a waiting truck.

The farms next to the lake stretch for kilometres as hundreds of former fishermen abandon fish farming to take up farming.

As the dejected fishermen carry their small catch, the jubilant crop farmers celebrate their good fortunes.

For the last couple of years, fish stocks in Lake Victoria have been on the decline and the early adapters have turned to crop farming.

 Siaya County, with the highest number of beaches around the lake, is the most affected.

Under the Food Security Field Schools programme   initiated by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1997, the lives of hundreds  of farmers have been transformed. Under the programme, good crop husbandry introduced to areas like Bondo has ensured that crop yields remain high

Farmers are encouraged to space their crop,   use of certified seeds and fertilizers which they use on fast-growing produce that have a ready market.

 FAO Agriculture and Field Schools Consultant Edwin Adenya says the process has involved experimentation and the input of extension workers.

Regular basis

As part of programme activities, farmers  discuss  the  social, economic and ecological problems they face and are able to resolve  most of them with advice and increase their yields.

“Hundreds of farmers  in Western and Nyanza have greatly benefited from this programme,” says Adenya.

Crops farmers are certainly much better off than the fisherman who have been impoverished as a result of declining fish stocks,    overfishing and poor fishing methods.

 

“When the programme was introduced, there were less than 20 field schools to provide farmers with extension services  in Western Kenya. However, this has risen to about 300 with each institution working with  at least 30 farmers,” he says.

The results have encouraged more people to take up crop farming  in a   region that was ‘importing’ vegetables from nearby towns— a commodity which they now export in  large quantities.

Farmers were busy attending to their crops when we visited the nearby   Kagongo beach.

The beach chairman, Johannes OKungu, watches them ruefully then admits that those who still fish are worried as fish stocks rapidly  decline.

He says that five years ago, it was not uncommon to haul in 250 kilogrammes of fish in a single day. Today the fishermen will be luckily to bring in 25 kilogrammes.

Okungu says overfishing is not the only problem — sometimes fishermen fish in breeding grounds or use inappropriate nets.

Fisherman-turned-farmer Tom Odhiambo regrets the declining fish stocks but is pleased he managed to get exposure to good crop husbandry. 

Odhiambo says some of the techniques he learned at the farmer’s field schools have been invaluable . . . from the use of certified fertilizers and the proper spacing of crops. Odhiambo easily earns up to Sh30,000  from his farm.

His transformation pleases Bondo Sub-County agriculture officer Aggrey Mamesa  who says poverty is not as prevalent in Siaya county with the adoption to farming.

Food security has also been effectively enhanced even though  challenges still exists, says Mamesa.

Local people still have to get used to dealing with the varies of inclement weather. He says unreliable  rainfall patterns, crop disease, pests and the  shortage of extension workers still dog crop farmers

 “Currently the extension officers’ ratio to farmers is one to 1:600. We should focus on irrigation for this region to be fully food reliant,” Mamesa says.

 The chairman of the farmer’s field school network, Tom Nyabundi, agrees. But he says crop production yields can still be raised. Five years ago, Bondo used to literally ‘import’ vegetables, says Nyabundi.

 Now, other regions buy vegetables from Siaya county.

 “We have seen the lives of many families transformed as the sub-county turns from fish reliance to crop farming,” says Nyabundi.

He says there are more field schools then ever before with the number rising from   16 to 120.

“Farmers have for many years relied on traditional farming methods. However, this has now changed, meaning more food and revenue for farmers,” Nyabundi says.