When the government introduced fish farming through economic stimulus programme in 2010, David Makui embraced it by investing Sh100,000 in the sector.

He placed an order for stock to put in the two(2) fishponds that the government dug for him in Gatitika village of Kirinyaga County.

“This was a new sensation and the trainers who the government dispatched to help us establish startups in the sector had told us that within an year, the poorest of us would be a millionaire,” Mr Makui says.

He placed an order through one of the trainers who after two(2) days brought him two(2) big fishes that were carried in a bucket with water.

“He told me that it was a male and a female fish and after mating, the female would lay eggs, hatch and multiply. He also delivered to me a day later, some creations that looked like small fish and told me they were called fingerlings,” he said.

It was after three(3) days that he saw the two(2) fishes he had been told were pedigree breeders floating dead, in the pond.

“It came to pass that my supplier had bought two(2) fishes from some fishermen along a local river. They were hardly alive when he put them in my pond. Within three(3) weeks, the noise that was coming from the second fishpond was horrific. The fingerlings turned out to have been tadpoles,” Mr Makui recalls.

Unbowed, he decided to first seek knowledge on fish farming, a journey that took him to a private farm in Githunguri where he was taken through the basics of pond management, protection against wading birds, fish breeds and procurement as well as husbandry.

“For two(2) weeks, I would wake up from a local lodging and travel to the private farm to be empowered with knowledge. I paid Sh30,000 for the course and headed back home,” he said.

He decided to develop his new fishponds, a journey that took him up to 2015 to raise the Sh200,000 that he required and a further Sh80,000 for stocking.

“I secured a loan of Sh300,000 and this time round got it right. I specialised on Tilapia and mudfish breeds and by 2019 I had broken even,” he said.

He says he had made a net profit of Sh500,000 through sale of fish and fingerlings as well as training other farmers.

“What I had not known is that fish is a highly favoured diet in the society and customers would line in my compound to buy one to five catches for their own nutritional needs,” he says, adding that he had to employ two(2) fishermen with baits to serve the customers.

He says fish farming in the village gained currency and was also spreading in neighbouring Nyeri County to a point producer groups started being formed.

“The Kirinyaga County Government, donors and the business community, took note of our enterprise. By 2020 the region was full of fish eateries and the county government had liaised with several donors to fund our groups,” he said.

Though he says snails and village thieves are a challenge in the sector.

He says so far he is a millionaire out of the enterprise.

“For the past three(3) years, I have bought three(3) acres of land for Sh1.8 million, bought a second hand car for Sh700,000 and built rentals for Sh2.3 million and living like a man of fortunes with his family of three(3) boys,” Mr Makui says.

He tells of how he sells about 500 kilos of fish per week for Sh300 each from his eight(8) fish ponds for the past three(3) years.

He says the biggest challenge is venturing into bigger markets.

“We are getting feedback that sugar levels for our fish are high. We have been told that customer glands are accustomed to fish from lakes that naturally have natural salts…The fish that we grow using mechanized feeds and in artificial lakes that are fishponds need to be made salty,” he said.