Eight years ago, residents of Roo Village in Suba South constituency, Homa Bay County held numerous public demonstrations opposing fish cage farming in Lake Victoria. They alleged that a cage fish factory – Victory Farms Ltd (VF’s) investments in the Lake would block local fishermen from the trade and that VF would exploit fish they heavily rely on.

So local leaders wanted the cage fish investors denied an opportunity to set up caging trolleys in the Lake, despite all the legal backing that gave them the authority to do so. They also claimed that the initiative was not going to help the locals in any positive way, sparking a protracted engagement with community leaders and Beach Management Units.

However, after a lot of back-and-forth between the two sides, an agreement was finally reached and the investors were allowed to carry on with the cage fishing projects as long as they plowed back the earnings from fish proceeds to the community and social development programmes.

Fishermen Ken Owino, Marley Amollo, and Belline Owiti recall that it was not an easy truce between the traditional fishermen used to harvesting fish in the Lake and the cage fish investors.

“Some of us thought they would use sophisticated fishing gears and deplete the fish species and even throw the local fishermen out of the lucrative trade. But this wasn’t the case,’’ says Amollo.

Owino asserts: “ We were still allowed to go on fishing expeditions just as the cage fish investors. We only agreed to harmonise our fishing methods such that we don’t go destroying their cages.’’

This gave birth to the cage investors’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to assist the fishing community.

Victory Farms led the way by coming up with CSR programmes to support the community through education, health and safety, food security, and conservation of the environment.

VF’s Chief executive Joe Rehman says the farm has employed thousands of people both in Homa Bay and across the county.

“Today they have engaged more than 5,000 people who are directly or indirectly involved in fish cage  production and others in sales and some agents of VF fish being sold across the country,’’ he says.

Fresh fish

Rehman says a large number of employees who work at the company come from the Roo area and other parts of Homa Bay County and some are placed in sale points across the Country. He says they have set up outlets in 12 counties where over 15,000 fishmongers and other customers buy fresh fish from Lake Victoria.

According to the firms’ Chief Development Officer Ceaser Asiyo, the locals and even the county elected leaders have now started realising the benefits of the fish project because of its CSR programmes.

“When it started we met a lot of resistance from the local farmers, fishermen, and even local and elected leaders,” he recalls, adding “but now since we are paying school fees for vulnerable students, they like VF.”

Since 2015, Asiyo adds, more than 15,000 students have benefited from payment of school fees running into Sh10 million.

Considering wider value chain impacts, he says, VF’s operations indirectly support thousands of households throughout the country. Recently, VF donated two high-speed rescue and patrol boats to Ragwe and Nyakwara Beach Management Units (BMU) to reduce cases of numerous boat accidents which usually occur in the Lake.

The boats will also help in transporting the fishermen and residents who might feel sick and lack means of transport to nearby health facilities.

William Onditi, the VF Affiliate Groups Representative and also the sub- County BMU Chairman said the donation has come at the right time for the fishing community in Lake Victoria.

“We have been facing a lot of challenges in rescuing our fishermen in the Suba South Constituency in case of an accident,” he said.