Ugandans are entrepreneurs. However the businesses they engage in do not last long. This means that we are citizens who can wake up and perform, given support in terms of sensitisation and training skills in handling businesses.

News from Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries indicates that there is a general outcry of how fish is getting depleted from our water bodies. The most mentioned is Lake Victoria, probably because of its size. However this must also be happening in other water bodies.

To reverse this trend the government is trying to put up policies that include checking the sizes of fishing nets used on these water bodies and other methods. This is a very good trial, but it may not address the problem effectively. This financial year it is said the government will lose more than 60 million dollars in export earnings because of illegal fishing nets and methods that have led to dwindling fish stocks.

Looking at the situation, illegal fishing is not about to stop and therefore the quick solution to shortage of fish does not lie in the government policy of cracking down on the offenders. The government may have to turn to fish farmers.

It's known that Israel has no as prominent water bodies as Uganda's. However, it is also known that it is one of the top ten world countries that export most tonnage of fish as per the Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO) records. How does it do it with no big water bodies? It utilises its basic development dependants who are the Israeli fish farmers. Common problems identified in the fish farming today include lack of good quality fish seed. These are commonly known as fish fry or fingerlings depending on the size. When still small they are called fry; when big to finger size they are fingerings.

There is lack of good quality feed. The feeds are of different types and include floating and sinking which also contain different percentages of protein ratios depending on the age and size of the fish to be fed. Insufficient expertise in the fish industry in terms of personnel, lack of sufficient acreage of ponds, lack of appropriate technology to boost fish yields per cubic metre of water, competition in prices of reared fish and fish from lakes, are among the impediments of fish farming. Fish from lakes are cheaper and bigger in size than to those from fish ponds.

Government can consider addressing these impediments so that the Ugandan fish farmers are motivated to join commercial fish farming. Presently, there are entrepreneurs who have started producing fish feed and seed. But because the farmers are few, the cost of feed and seed has become too expensive. The common types of fish that are reared are basically two and include Tilapia and Cat Fish (clarius).

The floating feed suitable for Tilapia growing is not on market yet. For a fish to attain one kilogram it requires two kilograms of feed (Feed Conversion Ratio) if the management is good. The cost of producing a one-kilogram fish is not less than Shs2,400 in terms of fish feed alone. It means that if other costs such as management, transport etc, are included, it comes to over Shs2,800 a kilogram.

Most of the would-be fish farmers are rural-based and are far from Kampala where most of the feed is manufactured. Besides, their acreage of ponds is very small. This aggravates the cost of fish feed due to economies of scale.

The government should therefore look at how fish feed and seed are accessed at reasonable prices. This can be achieved by assisting the entreprenuers who are now in the business to access cheaper capital or even grants for them to take off.

Government should help fish farmers also to access soft loans or grants. Investing in research for appropriate technology that can be applied in rural areas where there is no electric power would increase fish output per cubic metre. More investors should be encouraged to join fish farming to avoid monopoly and thus promote competition.

Instead of spending too much money on only protecting the fish in the natural water bodies like lakes and rivers, let government invest in fish farmers. It's very possible. If countries without the water bodies we have can do it, why should we fail?

Eng. Turihohabwe is a fish farmer CEO of Blessed Investments