Busia farmers turn poultry waste into fish feed to plug Kenya’s egg gap
Young farmers in Busia are linking poultry, fish and vegetable plots in a circular system backed by the Lake Basin Development Authority. Kenya faces a yearly shortfall of about 6,000 tonnes of poultry meat and five billion eggs, Citizen Digital reports.
In Busia, the Lake Basin Development Authority is promoting a farming model that links poultry, fish and pig farming. Waste from one part feeds the next, Citizen Digital reported. The aim is to create income and boost food security as growing towns leave less land for food. Under strict biosecurity rules, poultry manure goes into fish ponds. There it helps zooplankton grow, and the fish feed on them. The nutrient-rich pond water then irrigates vegetable plots that feed both families and livestock. According to Citizen Digital, the model works especially well in crowded peri-urban areas. Miriam Ojakol from Angoorom took up poultry farming with her father after months without a formal job. A string of losses nearly ended the venture, so she trained in modern poultry housing. She told Citizen TV that free-range birds pick up many diseases from other chickens. In Malaba, Rebecca Odalo spent nearly three years struggling to raise chicks for sale. She lost 30 of one batch of 100, and she said a rat was to blame, not disease. She fitted wire mesh, blocked the rat routes and carried on with the remaining…
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