To encourage warring communities in the Kerio Valley to diversify from traditional cattle keeping, which is blamed for recurring skirmishes, a government agency has initiated an ambitious plan to replenish the Turkwel dam with one million fingerlings.
The multimillion-shilling project, being conducted in phases by the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA), seeks to help locals shift from entirely depending on livestock keeping and embrace fish farming for better nutrition and wealth creation.
KVDA, in collaboration with the University of Eldoret, has supplied the dam with 200,000 fingerlings, which when harvested in the next five months are expected to fetch over Sh20 million.
KVDA Managing Director Sammy Naporos said the project has a three-pronged objective of increasing household incomes, mainstreaming fish farming as an alternative source of livelihood in line with policies on the blue economy, and offering food and nutritional security.
“We plan that in the next two to three years, the dam will produce over 100 metric tonnes and will rival lakes Turkana and Victoria in fish supply. This will in a big way offer an economic alternative to residents, away from livestock keeping,” Mr Naporos said at the dam when it was being stocked with fingerlings.
He said locals have been trained and sensitised on fish rearing and the formation of beach management units to help in regulating and enforcing laws on using the dam.
Climate change, Mr Naporos said, is disrupting the lives of pastoralist communities, escalating resource-based conflicts. “Fish will for sure sustain the economic livelihoods of the communities especially on sustainability of household incomes and food supply,” he said.
For ages, he said, the region has been notorious for deadly bloodletting in cattle rustling and banditry that continue to claim hundreds of lives and destroy property.
The attacks have mutated into organised crime, according to a ‘Mending the Rift’ report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
“We need a paradigm shift over the overreliance on livestock keeping which has been blamed for the raids and as KVDA, we are advocating for fish farming and beekeeping as an alternative. Locals are receptive to the venture,” Mr Naporos said.
Research and technical support
The University of Eldoret, he said, is helping with research and in supplying fingerlings and technical support.
“We are looking forward to introducing cage fish farming to help the fish grow quickly because the fish is directly fed and easy to harvest.”
Mr Philip Rotino, a director with KVDA, said Turkwel has helped build peace because a majority of young people are now engaged in several activities around the dam.
Riting Beach Management Unit official Lopuo Lotingwang said apart from the restocking, they were also given four boats and safety jackets, encouraging many locals to embrace fish farming.
“This is a game changer in this region in regard to peace and development because since the first restocking almost a decade ago, the majority of the youth are now in the lake,” he said.
“We have witnessed significant reduction of cases of raids and banditry along the Kitale-Lodwar highway. The ongoing skirmishes are now along the border areas only.”
Mr Joseph Siwa, a local chief, said the dam’s restocking had reduced crime, adding that with more fish in the water, many people will embrace fish farming.
