Kenyan Fisheries Officer Training at the

Asian Institute Of Technology —

an HCPI Exchange Project Success Story

Betty Nyandat, Yang Yi

Fisheries Department recognized need for training prior to initiation of the HCPI Exchange Project

Exchange Project workshop in Thailand presented a great opportunity to set up training at AIT

Introduction

Aquaculture production in Kenya stagnant at ~1000 t/yr since 1985 — WHY?

On-farm trials showed that farmers could increase their production from 0.1MT/ha to 3.5MT/ha

Training identified as the key missing ingredient

Justification:

Insufficient supply of seed

Poor quality seed

Unavailability of affordable quality feed

Other key challenges:

“Tilapia and Catfish Seed Production and Aquaculture Feed Technology”

Organized by Aquaculture and Aquatic Resource Management (AARM) at AIT

Took place from 8 -26 May 2006. Based on aquaculture research work

done at AIT for more than a decade Emphasis on recent developments in

tilapia and catfish seed production techniques

the Training

Four officers selected for training:

Rachel KamauSagana Fish Farm, Central Province

Tom OjuokWakhungu Fish Farm, Western Province

Moses MunialoKabonyo Fish Farm, Nyanza Province

Leonard KunduChwele Fish Farm, Western Province

The officers were responsible for their own learning process and enjoyed an active interaction and information exchange among themselves and trainers

A hands-on approach to all aspects of seed production technology for both tilapia and catfish proved to be invaluable to the officers

the Training (continued)

Hands-on training obtained on catfish propagation will be fully utilized by farmers

Catfish farmers are currently

being organized into clusters under the Kenya Business Development Services Program, another USAID-funded project

Benefits to Kenya (continued)

Team Recommendations:

Adopt hormonal sex reversal techniques to produce all male tilapia populations

Use hapa nets for fry nursing to reduce mortalities and contamination in open ponds

Team Recommendations (continued)

Consider using locally available feed ingredients based on dietary requirements of different fish species

Use live feeds such as Moina for catfish larvae to obtain faster growth and higher survival rates of fry, and consider how our catfish farmers can produce their own live feeds

THANK YOU