Otushabire Tibyangye
4 November 2009
Kasim Befunza, 54 got the idea of fish farming and particularly cat fish from Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu as he travelled from Entebbe to Kampala. In 2003 Befunza had gone to Kampala to look for employment and as he roamed the city he came across the breeding centre at Maj Gen Muntu's ponds in Kajjansi where he breeds cat fish fingerings for export.
Befunza never looked back. He returned home and started digging fish ponds in 2004 and stocked them with tilapia fish before embarking on cat fish.
"The time I started, I did not have enough knowledge about fish farming and for the first two years, yields were poor. But after getting intensive training from various fish training centres, I am now a proud fish farmer," Befunza says.
Fish farming is relatively new in Uganda. It got its setbacks in the 1960's and 70's due to lack of encouragement from leaders and because it was labour intensive. Befunza, who has nine ponds, not only produces cat fish ready for the market but is also a model farmer in his area.
Befunza says he got his first Shs4m from his first fish harvest. Befunza however complains that he has not got any help from Naads since at first his area was not included in the Naads programme as far as fish farming was concerned. He says he sells his fish of about 4kg at Shs20,000 and does not incur any expenses in transporting as customers come to his ponds and buy directly.
In one harvesting season of June-July this year, he earned Shs1.39m from fish fingerings and Shs2.9m from mature fish. Ntungamo District MP, Mr Steven Tashobya says as a way to encourage fish farming, all the farmers have been advised to form a cooperative society so as to benefit once funds are available.
Befunza says his hatchery needs expansion and funding to handle large orders from farmers not only in his home area but as far as Kabale, Bushenyi and Mbarara districts. Cat fish breeding is labour intensive as opposed to tilapia.
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