Tech savvy granny turns scary Lake Victoria into floating fish paradise

Cages with fish floating in Lake Victoria [PHOTO:MAUREEN ODIWUOR/STANDARD]

KISUMU: What does it take for a grandmother to make a living from the depths of a lake?

Passion and determination, says Winnie Owuor, to whom 500 metres into the vast Lake Victoria is where she is most at home.

Owuor’s love for fish has made her swim against the tide and discover ingenious ways to maximise her earnings. But unlike other fishermen who venture into the deep waters of Lake Victoria with nets and hooks, Owuor rears her own tilapia using cages in the expansive lake, which is just 10 metres from her homestead in Bondo, Siaya County.

“I found out that this is a business venture easy to expand. I began with four cages in 2012 after reading about cage fishing online. But on realising how lucrative it was, I gained the courage to expand it,” she says.

ONLINE RESEARCH

Owuor says her interest in fish farming led her into conducting online research on other methods of rearing fish aside from the traditional fish ponds. For this, she says, she has the Internet to thank for leading her into cage fishing.

Armed with the little knowledge she got from reading online articles, the 65-year-old grandmother ventured into fish farming.

Currently, Owuor owns about 60 fish cages which she uses to protect and artificially feed her fish until they are mature enough for consumption. A cage costs Sh60,000 and can carry approximately 2,000 fingerlings.

When she began, she bought the cages from a juakali artisan in Usenge, Siaya County. She now makes her own, right by the lake.

She has about 120,000 fingerlings in 60 cages. She feeds them with a fish mill similar to that fed to chicks. For the first three months, the fingerlings are fed on a special mash that gives way to pelettes as they mature.

“I spent Sh10,000 to purchase fingerlings as each goes for Sh5. I also spent about Sh110,000 in feeds and labour. These feeds contain all the nutrients required for the development of fish to maturity. We feed them in the morning between 9 and 10 and later in the day at around 4pm,” she says.

At her first try, Owuor says she lost more than 400 fingerlings, but still made a handsome profit.

Standing ashore next to her home, the metallic meshed boxes floating 500 metres into the lake are unmistakable. But it is with a closer look that one will notice they are holding hundreds of thousands worth of fish. The cages are interlinked by pipes and a wooden bridge on which care takers use to access them when feeding and harvesting.

The bridge is fastened with floaters to prevent it from sinking. The cages are covered with mesh which are only opened during feeding or harvesting.Fishing is done using nets.

And just as it is a capital intensive venture, fish caging is a lucrative business that never lacks demand. So much is Owuor’s fish on demand that she cannot satisfy her customers.

“I get orders from Kisumu and Siaya and from as far as Nairobi. One of my main customers is the popular Ranalo Foods in Nairobi,” she says.

To ensure a constant supply to her customers, Owuor breeds her fish in stages, giving them a difference of two months to mature.

Her venture has attracted many people, including her area MP Gideon Ochanda who has promised to buy 300 fish cages to generate income for local primary schools located around the lake in Bondo Constituency.

“If we have the additional cages, then we will have enough fish even for export. We have already started to look at the possibility of exporting fish to Japan,” she says

The diminishing quantities of fish in the lake has been a blessing in disguise for her since the demand for the product is way higher than the supply.

“The price of fish is currently high. Those that I used to sell at between Sh100 currently go for Sh200 and I still cannot meet the demand. A lady from Maseno buys from me at Sh200 and sells at Sh400,” she says.

And as in any other business, cage fishing has its challenges too. Owuor says even though her cages are a stone throw from the shore, she had to buy a boat for her employees to use when feeding and harvesting the fish.

PROFITABLE VENTURE

“I have also had to put a floodlight at my home whose light can reach the cages. I have also employed a watchman who guards the fish to wade off thieves,” she says.

But her biggest challenge is the death of fingerlings. “It has however not been smooth all the way since there are challenges like death of fish. We started out with Sh18000 fish but we still got Sh270, 000,” she says.

And before she could start the venture, she had to get approval from the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

To save on costs, Owuor makes her own fish cages as she expands her businesses. To complement her fishing venture, the grandmother is also a horticulture and poultry farmer.

“Before I used to plant vegetables, onions and tomatoes for sale. I also keep about 400 chickens which I sell for income,” she says.