This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
Heavy rainfall has been affecting fish sales on Lake Victoria, with fishmongers losing millions of their catch.
According to the Kenya Maritime Authority, fisher folk are losing close to two tonnes of freshwater sardines daily due to bad weather.
"We catch almost two tonnes of dagaa on a good day but the entire haul goes to waste when there is no sunshine to dry the catch," said Mr Justus Sabari, Sori Beach Management Unit Secretary, in an interview with the Nation on August 30, 2019.
Mr Sabari stated that the Kenya Maritime Authority had visited the beaches last year and promised to train the fisher folk on modern sun drying techniques, but the promise is yet to be accomplished.
Ms Lydia Atieno, a fishmonger, noted that the business is no longer lucrative as it used to be during the dry spell and they are forced to sell the sardines at a throwaway price to avoid wastage and rot.
"The sardines produce a foul smell when not properly dried and this keeps our clients away. We end up selling them to chicken feed processors at a throw away price," she observed.
According to Ms Atieno, fresh sardines sell at Sh200 a kilo, but the price goes down to Sh50 a kilo when they go bad.
Ms Fenny Awuor, another fishmonger, blamed the situation on fake promises given by politicians during campaigns.
"We banked on promises by our leaders to get us a drier that would resolve this situation, but they remain pipe dreams," she said.
Sori Beach Management Chairman Maxwell Ogola urged the county government to step up and provide modern driers, stating that it was the only way to salvage the situation.
