Page 15 - Kenya Report

Kenya has established the Aquaculture Business Development Programme whose completion is expected to
be in April 2026. The Programme’s goal is increase food security, income and nutrition among poor small-
scale farmers in aquaculture sector, achievable through partnerships and protection of critical ecosystems.

30,000 Country Profile The Republic of Kenya
25,000

20,000
Tonnes 15,000

10,000
5,000

0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Years

Source: (UN, 2019)
Kenya has experienced a remarkable growth of the aquaculture sector. Currently, Kenya is ranked the
4 major aquaculture producer in Africa. Aquaculture production has been on the rise in Kenya until
th
2015 as represented by the table below. The success of the sector has been attributed to government
programmes such as the Economic Stimulus Programme to which the Kenyan Government channeled
about Kshs 22 billion to stimulate growth.

The constraints
Poverty

Poverty rate is also a major concern with about 42 per cent of the Kenyan population live below the
poverty line. This rate is higher at the coastal regions since most fishers earn about US $ 2.01-2.80
(Kshs 201-280) per day (Obura, et al., 2017). Such low financial returns have compelled fishers to
resort to destructive methods of fishing such as use of trawlers and purse seining to maximize daily
catch for high economic returns. Such methods have deleterious effect on coral reef development.

Overf?shing

Excessive fishing has been a major threat until the El Nino experience in 1998. The practice was
facilitated through the use damaging techniques such as pull-seine nets, use of small mesh nets and
poison. The population of fishers has also increased drastically due to factors such as poverty and
increase in general population. Unprotected areas have recorded about 15-20 fishers per km , which
2
is the 10 fishers per km threshold set as the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY).
2
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) f?shing

Fisheries contributes about 0.8% to the Kenyan Gross Domestic Product and employs up to 2,500,000
people directly and indirectly. However, fish stock in Kenya is rapidly decreasing due to IUU fishing. It

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