Victory Farms, a Kenyan tilapia fish farming firm plans to expand its business to Rwanda, officials have said that the new investment could boost the country's efforts to achieve 127,000 tonnes of fish production target by 2024.

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There remains only one year to reach the target yet the country has not even produced half of the projected demand, a situation that has left officials scratching their heads for major interventions.

Solange Uwituze, the Deputy Director-General of Animal Research and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) said: "It presents therefore a great opportunity for investment for anyone interested including Victory Farms."

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Uwituze said that aquaculture is a growing sector in Rwanda with a contribution of 10 per cent to the national fish production, adding that it is targeted to be driven by the Private sector for it to be the primary source of fish production.

"As of today, the average national fish production is 39,400 tonnes per year of which 10 per cent is from fish farming. We want that the production from fish farming increases even higher than production from fish capture so that total national fish production hits 127,000 tonnes of fish per year in 2024," she said.

Meanwhile, The New Times has since learned that Victory Farms, East Africa's largest commercial fish farmer, has raised $5 million in equity funding to expand its operations into Rwanda, Tanzania and DR Congo.

The startup has seen significant growth since its founding in 2014; it now has 600 employees, over 55 branches in Kenya, and generated $17 million in revenue in 2021. It is targeting a 15 folds growth in the next five-to-six years.