Uganda’s Nakasongola fish production is set for a boots as it gets $500,000 for Ekitangaala Fish Farms (EFF) project is located at Ntuti village, Kitangala sub-county in Nakasongola district. Rand Blair, the EFF managing director and Robert Cook of the
International Aquaculture, informed that with this investment they hope to export about 300 tonnes of tilapia and catfish every year when production begins.
According to Blair the main aim of such huge investment is to attract more farmers to join fish farming. He added that apart from the investment of $500,000 in Nakasongola, the company has bigger plans of promoting fish farming in Uganda. He informed that they had set up eight fish ponds and stocked them with 40,000 tilapia fish fries. He told that Uganda has the potential to become the leading exporter of fish and fish products on the continent. We want to set up several fish ponds and train more farmers countrywide.
Tim Bahrani, one of the EFF directors, told that it was in 2005, EFF and International Aquaculture formed a joint venture to engage in tilapia production and start such income-generating activities that has changed people’s living standards. He continued saying that now they are optimistic that they will have solutions to people’s problems in a few years to come. According to him proceeds from the project would be used to support a community centre and a clinic.
Blair also opined that they had entered an understanding with the Uganda Cooperative Association to train more farmers in fish farming. He said they wanted Ugandans to emulate their counterparts in Thailand where one farmer exports 210 tonnes of fish annually.
