Smallholder aquaculture development

Expected Outcome ::

To improve the production and productivity as well as the food security and diet quality of smallholder farmers . The objective is to strengthen the capacity of smallholder farmers, mostly aquaculture pond farmers, to increase production and improve productivity as well as to create opportunities for non-fish farming actors interested to develop microenterprises along the aquaculture value chain. The Component will also contribute to improved diet quality of the Kenyan population through the increased awareness on consumption of fish, fish products and dietary diversity.

In response, this component aims to :
  • Upgrade aquaculture production base through rehabilitation of existing aquaculture production facilities (ponds and others), including those established by the ESP;
  • Introduce new fish farming facilities (ponds and others) focusing on new entrants to the sector (mainly youth and women);
  • Develop sound practices, training and capacity building for smallholders practicing cage culture and aquaculture in small man-made reservoirs, pending the completion of guidelines and SEIAs,
  • Promote the technical and business skills of smallholder fish producers to increase their production and productivity as well as their income and move them from subsistence to commercially oriented production;
  • Build the capacity for feed cottage industries and fingerling production, introduced under the ESP program.
  • Identify entrepreneurial off-farm opportunities and create skills for off-farm entrepreneurial opportunities, focusing youth including landless, near landless youth, and women and other disadvantaged groups; and
  • Promote fish consumption and the production of value-added fish products to advance the nutritional status and food security of the wider communities, with particular attention to the most vulnerable categories including children and women of reproductive age.

The Target

The Component will target 35,500 direct beneficiaries (each representing a household of smallholder fish farmers who are mostly pond owners), of which at least 10,000 (30%) women fish farmers and 2,750 non-fish farmers youth women and 11,500 (33%) youth (fish farmers and non-fish farmers). Self-targeting mechanisms as well as direct targeting measures will be applied to ensure equal participation and benefits for all social categories, including the most disadvantaged and nutritionally at-risk groups. Other indirect beneficiaries will include rural communities as a whole, which will benefit from improved nutrition education and other community nutrition initiatives.

The Beneficiaries

The Component will target 35,500 direct beneficiaries (each representing a household of smallholder fish farmers who are mostly pond owners), of which at least 10,000 (30%) women fish farmers and 2,750 non-fish farmers youth women and 11,500 (33%) youth (fish farmers and non-fish farmers). Self-targeting mechanisms as well as direct targeting measures will be applied to ensure equal participation and benefits for all social categories, including the most disadvantaged and nutritionally at-risk groups. Other indirect beneficiaries will include rural communities as a whole, which will benefit from improved nutrition education and other community nutrition initiatives.