Fish farmers have called for new interventions to help address the numerous challenges affecting the sector’s development and growth potential. The farmers say lack of quality feeds and high prices are holding back the sector’s potential and hurting their businesses.

Jérome Musemandera, a representative of fish farmers group in Karongi District, said there is also need for construction of good fish ponds and boosting the capacity of farmers and fisheries officials to be able to improve the fisheries industry.

Farmers added that they lack financial capacity to compete with their counterparts in the region.

"It is always difficult. For instance, if I target to produce three tonnes of fish monthly, this will require more investment because I use floating cages. This problem is compounded by reluctance by banks to fund agriculture projects,” Musemandera said in an interview with Business Times on the sidelines of a workshop on quality fish feeds in Kigali last week.

He added that farmers buy fish feeds at between $1 and $2.5 a kilogramme (Rwf843 and Rwf2,107). Some of the feeds are imported from Israel and EAC countries.

Musemandera called for interventions to help bring down the price of quality fish feeds to about $1.5 to "facilitate farmers and support growth of the country’s aquaculture industry.

"There is a problem of lack of quality fish feeds, but we are seeking ways to partner with the private sector and individuals to address the issue.

"We are also working with farmers to increase fish production in the country,” said Dr Wilson Rutaganira, the aquaculture and fisheries programme co-ordinator at Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB).

He said this will improve production in next five years and satisfy growing demand. Next year, the government targets to invest Rwf800 million in the aquaculture sector, and also support building of facilities to produce quality feeds, and new technologies to boost the sector.

Rutaganira added that the government is also encouraging private investors to produce fish feeds as part of interventions aimed at reducing the price to between Rwf600 and Rwf1,200 per kilogramme.

Currently, there are around 180 co-operatives involved in fish farming activities. Their facilities cover between 260 and 270 hectares, while 10 groups of farmers are engaged in cage fish farming countrywide.

The per capita consumption of fish in Rwanda is 2.5 kilos per year whereas in sub-Saharan Africa it is between 6 and 7 kilos. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends 14 kilos per person per annum. Therefore, farmers need to produce 112,000 tonnes of fish per annum to satisfy the market demand up from 27,000 tonnes presently, experts say. Other interventions

Musemandera said farmers tried to make feeds locally using soya beans, maize bran, rice, and sardines, but the venture was not fruitful. This could, however, become history following a partnership between Gorilla Feeds, a local animal feeds company, and Aller Aqua Fish Feeds, an international fish feeds company, to produce quality fish feeds locally.

The initiative will help address challenges of access to quality feeds in the country, according to Janvier Kivuye, the Gorilla Feed general manager.

Meanwhile, Hiller Bugabo, a RAB technician at Kigembe Fish Farm, said the facility has the capacity to produce between three and five million fish fries annually, but added that it is now producing between two and three million young fish due lack of enough equipment.