Farmers from 22 districts receive fish fingerings and fish feeds from NAADS
Through the Government of Uganda’s initiative to increase fish production through aquaculture, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) has distributed a total of 2,243,552 fish fingerings and 58,706 kilograms of start-up feeds to beneficiary farmers in 22 district local governments.
The fingerings and feeds are part of the livestock materials that NAADS has distributed to farmers across the country this year. The support to farmers aims to improve their household incomes, increasing fish production and export earnings.
The Livestock development officer at NAADS Dr. Thomas Nsemerirwe said out of the fingerings distributed, 1,397,066 were tilapia while 846,486 ate catfish. He said the fingerings can stock up to 500 fish ponds at an average of 4,000 fingerings per standard fish pond of 20m by 50m.
Nsemerirwe added that the 22 beneficiaries were selected based on their readiness and preparedness to take care of the fish fingerings. “We received requests from the beneficiaries who expressed interest in fish farming and during our assessment exercise, the 22 were found ready with well-established fish ponds and the capacity to feed the fish to maturity”, explained Nsemerirwe. The beneficiary local governments include Masaka district, Masaka City, Nebbi, Arua, Kanungu, Ibanda, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Bugiri, Budaka, Lwengo, Luwero, Buikwe, Kampala, Masindi, Kabarole, Kasese, Serere, Manafwa, Katakwi and Kyankwanzi.
Since 2014, NAADS has distributed over 20 million fish fingerings and over 700,000 kilograms of start-up fish feeds to fish farmers across the country to boost fish production, improve nutrition, increase farmer incomes, and boost fish export earnings.
Uganda produces up to 15,000 tonnes of fish from aquaculture, including production from small-scale fish farmers, emerging commercial fish farmers, and stocked community water reservoirs and minor lakes. There are an estimated 20,000 ponds throughout the country with an average surface area of 500 m per fish pond.
