National aquaculture curriculum launched

Fish ponds in Mungoye Village, Vihiga

A national aquaculture curriculum has been launched to promote, boost and sustain farming of tilapia in fish ponds within the catchment areas of L Victoria, and outspreading countrywide.

The modular curriculum which will be offered in various vocational training institutions, polytechnics and colleges throughout the country, is part of joint efforts to sustain the declining fish population in L Victoria, enhance sustainable ways to protect the lake’s environment and eradicate poverty by creating alternate livelihoods other than lake fishing.

The curriculum which is part of the Trilateral Tilapia Cooperation, is a combined product Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, the German Development Cooperation Agency, through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV).

It is also backed by the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) seeks to promote competency based hands-on training (CBET) to enable fish farmers fully benefit from it.

The first phase focused on 10 counties in the Western Kenya region, with the second phase focusing on up-scaled lessons learnt from phase one, and implemented in Kakamega, Bungoma and Siaya Counties.

Agriculture being the backbone of Kenya’s economy contributes 24 per cent of the countries annual GDP, fisheries contribute 7.4 percent of this hence the need for harnessing the fisheries resources.

Source: Daily Nation (http://www.nation.co.ke/business/seedsofgold/Aquaculture-curriculum-launched-to-boost-fish-farming/2301238-4223392-wa0emhz/index.html)