Refrigerated trucks rekindle fish business in Kenya

Fish farmers in Central Kenya are benefitting from access to wider and diversified markets thanks to a transport and logistics company offering refrigerated trucks that transports the fish, becoming the farmers silver bullet against stock losses. The losses are occasioned by poor uptake of fish in the local markets.

The Fish Farming Enterprise Productivity Program (FFEPP) under the government Economic Stimulus Programme in 1999 introduced fish farming to 140 constituencies pouring in $30billion to facilitate the venture with each county receiving $80,000 for construction of ponds, buying fingerlings, feeds and initial training. The intervention hoped to improve nutrition, reduce overfishing in lakes and create additional jobs in rural areas.

Central Kenya which has traditionally not practiced fish farming in large scale took a surprise lead producing more than 21,800 tonnes of fish from ponds compared to 12,154 tonnes produced by the entire nation in 2010 emerging as the second county in fish production after West Kenya known for fish production. And therein lay the problem.

In an area that has traditionally not been keen on eating fish, a lot of fish was being produced but with no one to consume.
The project would run into more headwinds as farmers harvested fish at the same time creating a market glut. Eutychus Kungu, one of the pioneer fish farmers under the FEEP has always had bitter memories. His pond could hold around 3500 fish. “Under the Stimulus programme, the government only provided us with the first free fingerlings and feed. After that we were on our own. I put a lot of effort because it was my first time, and I was looking forward to a big sale. But three seasons into the venture I did my calculations and realized I was losing money. Everybody was selling fish at the same time, at the same market and no one was buying. Sometimes I ended up with upto 500 rotten fish. It was disastrous. I had to opt out,” he said. But for farmers like Mukithia Mwonje who opted to stay, the wait has been long, but now rewarding.

Bevta Logistics Limited, a company specializing in cold storage and refrigerated transport while scouting for fresh produce transportation heard about the plight of the fish farmers. “We have been receiving unprecedented demand for fish by traders and supermarkets in major cities like Nairobi,” said Shashel Ogana the Operations manager at the company. “Nyeri offered us the perfect market because it is nearer to Nairobi than our traditional supply sources like Kisumu,” she added.
Bevta sends its officers to Central Kenya with the refrigerated trucks. Farmers are organized into groups. Bevta officers inspect the fish before loading it into the trucks. “We have to be very meticulous about quality and freshness of the fish. Customers are willing to spend anything on fresh fish, that’s why we take up to half a day on inspection alone,” said Thomas Ikiara one of the inspecting officers. The company has also taught farmers basic preservation methods as the fish awaits being loaded into the trucks. The farmers gut the fish and keep them in shade on the deck where water is constantly poured on them to keep them wet. Fish is strategically arranged in racks inside the trucks with the regulated temperatures ensuring that fish gets to the market as fresh as it was when harvested. The trucks can keep fish fresh for upto 24 hours.

A kilo of fish goes for between $5 and $7. And while initially Bevta Logistics would buy the fish to then resell, supermarkets and hotels in contract with certain farmer groups are hiring the refrigerated trucks on behalf of farmers as an incentive to get them to keep farming. In such instances the hotels bear the cost of transportation which they then deduct a small percentage. “We get a lot of demand for fish throughout but especially on weekends and sometimes logistically it becomes expensive and inconvenient to get fish from far places like Naivasha and Kisumu. In Central it is timely and cost effective for us,” said Dorcas Munge the hotel manager at Amini Resort one of the customers.