This archive report was first published on 29 June 2020.
On June 29, 2020, a non-governmental organisation, The Echo Network Africa (ENA), launched a Sh11m aquaculture project to support 100 vulnerable women in fish farming in Lake Victoria, Homa Bay County.
The project, which aims to make women economically self-reliant, involves the distribution of four fish cages equipped with fish feeds to four women groups operating at Litare, Kaugege, Wakula, and Mrongo beaches in Mbita Sub-county.
Each group consists of 25 women, and the fish cages have the capacity to carry 35,000 fingerlings each, producing 15 tons of fish after six months.
According to Teresia Wakahia, ENA Senior Programmes Manager, the women have been trained on aquaculture cage farming in collaboration with the county department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
“We have also trained the women on entrepreneurship and financial literacy to help them engage in aquaculture as a business enterprise that will generate income for their families,” Wakahia said.
County officials, including Homa Bay CEC for Agriculture Aguko Juma, handed over environmental impact assessment certificates to the women, allowing them to begin fish farming in the lake.
CEC Juma also assured the women of free consultation services from the fisheries department to ensure the health of their fingerlings.
The initiative aims to cushion the women from frustrations of ‘sex for fish’, a practice where men have sex with women before giving them fish, undermining the dignity of many women in the area.
