Aquaculture firm Victory Farms is planning a Sh750 million expansion of its tilapia cage farming project in Lake Victoria amid growing demand for the white meat, regulatory filings show.
The project, to be implemented in new concession areas around Sindo, Homa Bay County, will expand the company’s existing sustainable tilapia cage production by about 30,000 tonnes per year.
“The proposed commercial sustainable tilapia cage farming expansion with an approximate production of 30,000 metric tonnes per year in new concession blocks in Lake Victoria’s Litare, Jiudendi, Ngeri, Nyagwethe, Kamogo, Uterere, and Kisegi beaches in Suba South Sub- County, Homa Bay County,” Lakers Consultancy Ltd said in submissions to the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) on behalf of Victory Farms.
Cage farming involves setting up a netted enclosure that is suspended in the lake and containing fingerling fish. The fish are fed and tended to in the enclosure. The harvesting cycle for cage fish is approximately one year per cage.
“The proponent will use floating surface cages in the project. The proponent will make use of modern HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) cages that are plastic in nature and more durable. They will be 30 metres in diameter and 10 metres in depth given the lake bottom depth of over 30 metres.
“Thus, the difference between the cage bottom and the lakebed is 20 metres, making oxygen circulation optimum for juvenile tilapia fingerlings,” it added.
The expansion plans come in the wake of a mega-fundraising by Victory Farms to grow its operations in Africa. In April 2023, the firm received $35 million (Sh4.5 billion) from venture capital (VC) investors to expand its operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
The funds were raised by investors led by Creadev, a global VC and evergreen growth investor, to help the firm create more jobs and support businesses in the supply chain and provide nutritious meals across the region.
Other investors include Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund, DOB Equity, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, and Hesabu Capital.
Victory Farms’ founders and angel investors, including Joseph Rehmann, Steve Moran, Kamran Ahmad and Hans den Bieman also invested in the transaction.
Cage fish farming has gained traction in Lake Victoria with more than 4,000 cages in place and concentrated on the Kenyan side of the water mass.
Many of the cages are individually owned even though more corporations such as Victory Farms are eyeing aquaculture opportunities in the lake.
There has, however, been pressure to regulate cage farming in the lake amid entry into the business by more groups eyeing better returns.
The Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute warns that sustainable cage culture requires strict adherence to proper husbandry procedures because lapses can cause ecological degradation, resulting in changes in water quality and biotic structure.
Kenya’s share of fish production from Lake Victoria fell to 70,300 tonnes in 2023, from 86,400 in 2022, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The statistics agency largely attributed the dip to increasing pollution in the lake and the prevalence of illegal and unregulated fishing.
