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Madilu finds a fortune in fish
Lazarus Madilu explains the agronomy of catfish. Photos | File
What you need to know:
- Feeds are an important component of fish farming as they constitute over 70 per cent of the total operational costs. As a result, the key to succesful commercial fish farming is always to use the best feeds but also maximise on all fronts and keep the ‘wastage taps’ at minimum.
For Lazarus Madilu, fish farming was a venture he had never imagined he would undertake until 2014. Before 2014, his mainstay was rice farming which fetched him little money to settle his ever-widening family needs.
The Odeperio village-based farmer in Kibale parish, Kibale Sub-county, Pallisa District, told Seeds of Gold, that he became interested in fish farming during President Museveni’s countrywide tour of Bonabagagawale projects. Mr Madilu says he became enticed upon listening to the Presidents’ monetary figures one would get from one acre of land containing fish ponds.
“After the endless wealth awareness campaigns which were broadcast on radio, I decided to abandon rice farming on my one and half acre piece of land. I decided to dig fish ponds, starting with local mudfish since I couldn’t afford fish fingerlings,” says Madilu.
How he started
While showing me around his one and half acre piece of land where his seven fish ponds sit, the father of seven said that his first local approach earned him little at the time of first harvest, adding that he persisted on with the ordinary mudfish for the second time running, earning him Shs1.8m.
From his 8 by 12-metre fish pond, the now proud fish farmer says, he upgraded to 25 by 50-metre fish pond and later to 22 by 40-metre fishponds, which have turned to become the source of his economic livelihood.
“All my first pioneer approaches were devoid of any expert training, I was passion-driven, the only initial training I received came in 2017-2018 through Operation Wealth Creation (OWC),” says Madilu on whose fish farm are also 130 improved mango and orange trees, which earn him close to Shs10m each year.
Capital
Through a Shs4.7m support from OWC in 2017, Madilu says he managed to buy more than 8,000 fingerlings and other additional 7,000 from OWC. He calls this moment, the start of his new journey in fish farming.
With little experience at that time, much of the fingerlings died, meaning at the time of harvest, Madilu realised Shs8m after a period of six months.
“Nonetheless, I carried on, stocking the fish ponds with fresh fingerlings in 2019. Last year, I managed to earn Shs38m from the sale of fish to Kenyan businessmen,” Madilu adds.
He says, currently there are about 13,000 stocks of both tilapia and catfish in his ponds, which he projects to harvest in July. “My expectation for this year’s harvest is Shs50m,” says Madilu.
Helping others
Madilu has replicated his success by extending the knowledge of fish farming to other farmers who are still glued on rice farming.
He has managed to open up other six fish ponds for other farmers to learn from, and realise the benefits of fish farming.
He says the six fish ponds are also due for harvest, adding that he hopes to use this as turning point for other farmers to take on fish farming: “The beauty about it is that, I am now able to train farmers, the district used me to resuscitate Olimot fish project which had failed farmers there.”
How to manage fingerlings
Once delivered to the farm, Madilu says, one should not rush the fingerlings inside the fish pond, they should be first raised to specific sizes inside breeders, where one can be able to grade them according to grammes they weigh after a period of three weeks.
The former rice grower turned fish farmer adds that once the fingerlings attain 250 grammes, one is at leisure to transfer them to the desirable mother pond. To ascertain that the fingerlings are 250 grammes one has to use a weighing scale.
According to Madilu, this practice helps check the losses which normally happens in the fish ponds if fingerlings of different sizes are uncontrollably placed inside.
“What happens when you have fingerlings of different sizes in the pond is those that are big eat up the young ones, it is the reason fish farmers who have no basic knowledge on these practices end up having small harvests because they mix the big fish with the young, and in the absence of food, they turn to feed on the small ones,” he explains.
Madilu says he has a fish breeder within his farm where fingerlings are raised to a desirable size of 250-300 grammes before they are transferred to the mother ponds.
Madilu has also diversified and now grows mangos.
How to feed fish
Sourcing for the right feeds, record keeping of the trend in feeding, maintaining hygiene around and inside the pond are some of the best practices that farmers are advised to observe by experts in order to reap big from the trade.
Another paramount exercise that farmers are advised to observe is embrace best fish feeding method.
According to Susan Nakimu from Ugachick, Uganda’s biggest fish feed producer, the best fish feed method is Feed by Response where fish are fed according and when they are hungry.
This ensures that the feeds go directly to the fish and not the predators as well as maintaining hygiene in the pond since the feed is given to the fish and the fish eats it instantly therefore eliminating any remains that could dissolve and pollute the water.
To feed by response, fish need to be trained to come and eat from the same place at the same time at the water surface. In order to achieve this, a farmer should initiate it by calling the fish at a designated fixed time and place.
Best practice
He says to attain better returns, the environs around the fish ponds must be cleaned removing rotting objects, which when allowed to litter the ponds may end up contaminating the pond and competing for oxygen with the fish.
A clean environment will also keep at bay predators such as snakes and birds which feed on fish.
Madilu says planting grass around the ponds also ensures that the ponds are not silted with soil or stones and also allows better access for easy supervision of the fish project and easy draining out of water from the ponds.
He adds that to complement a clean environment, simple trees especially fruiting ones can be planted around the fish ponds.
Madilu adds that the pond should also be free of the undergrowth of grass which often suffocates the fish and hinders their feeding, and also impedes a farmer from delivering the food directly to the fish.
He reveals that no weed killers should be used to suffocate weeds around the fish ponds, adding that this kills fish in the ponds.
Catfish better than tilapia
In terms of monetary output, Madilu says catfish is more expensive than tilapia and their rate of death while in the fish pond is negligible.
He confirms that catfish grows faster than tilapia, and fetch for a farmer more in terms of kilogrammes at harvest.
Ready market
Madilu says the market is so lucrative that the few fish farmers engaged in the project can’t meet demand. Madilu confirms that the Kenyans who buy the fish from fish ponds are ever calling, and demanding when the next harvest will be ready.
The latest communication is that the Kenyans are willing to buy the current stocks at four months, which is not bad, since it will cut down the feeding expense.
Outside the Kenyan market, the local market is readily available especially in the wake of the ever-reducing natural stocks in the water bodies around the country, fish farming will be the ultimate answer for fish consumers in the country.
Future plans
Never could the old adage about teaching a man to fish instead of giving him a fish be truer than in his case.
Thinking about his future, Madilu said: “I am now able to plan for the next step and I can venture into many other things besides fish farming. Before I started, I never used to keep records of my expenditure and income. Through the integrated aquaculture training, I can tell how much I have used, how much is required and how much I need to put into the business in order to succeed.”
Market
Tilapia takes eight to 10 months to mature and on average each goes for Shs10,000 while catfish takes six months. Lazarus Madilu normally sells catfish between Shs20,000 to Shs30,000. He harvests the mature fish when he gets orders from potential customers, who are mainly locals from the area and depending on the number of fish they want. He also sells the fish at farmgate to Kenyans.
