Acayo Fiona Birungi, one of the Vision Group 2023 Best Farmers Competition winners, has exported and introduced the growing of organic fish feed on her farm in Amuca, Lira city in a bid to reduce costs of feeds.
Acayo, the chief executive officer of Dewilos Fish Farm, called upon fish farmers to embrace the new organic feed and innovation to combat the expensive cost of fi sh farming in the country.
The plant, azolla, was procured from Kenya at sh150,000 per kilogramme last year to relieve them from the huge expenditure on feeds.
Acayo used sh1.5m to procure 10kg of the plant. She said the biggest challenge was expensive feed exported from other countries, which would cost sh96,000 for only a 20kg bag.
“I did a lot of research together with my husband and found that azolla is the right organic feed for fish and it is cheap. However, where to get it was still a nightmare,” she said.
Acayo said they found that azolla does not fare very well in Africa, the way it does in China, Malaysia, India and Indonesia.
Export from Nairobi
“We went on the internet and started researching, until we landed on an article about the plant and the nearest farmer having it was in the Nairobi highlands. We talked to some friends who linked us to the farmer,” she added.
Acayo’s farm, which was established in 2019 with a single fish pond, has since grown to 21 concrete ponds and 10 tarpaulin ponds. It has over 70,000 fish (cat and tilapia) and employs 30 people.
She said the plant has a high protein value more than silver fish and it converts nitrogen from the environment into nitrates.
Acayo added that it is mostly eaten by tilapia fish and has since enabled them to realise the growth of their school. She added that most fish farmers get discouraged because of the high cost of feed, but if they are to learn the existence of the plant, it will be a relief to many.
“Costs discourage people from engaging in fish farming, but at Dewilos we turned the narrative around by feeding our fish with organic feeds,” Acayo said.
She said when people ask why they embraced azolla, their reply is simple: “We say our fish grow their own food, because the azolla grows in the same ponds where we grow the fish. In return, the fish waste is manure that helps the azolla to grow.”
Reduce cost of feed
Felix Owilo, Acayo’s husband, said azolla is the cheapest feed one can ever get because it multiplies quickly when dropped in a favourable environment.
He added that before azolla, they were spending sh96,000 on feeds daily, but when they started growing azolla, the cost reduced to sh40,000 per day.
“Right now, if we buy 20kg, it takes three days unlike in the past where we could use the same quantity every day,” he said.
Owilo advised fish farmers to adopt the growing of the plant if they are to realise returns from fish farming.
Azolla is used in agriculture for a wide range of purposes, including bio-fertiliser, human food, cow and poultry feed, weed and mosquito control.
It has been demonstrated that azolla inoculation enhances rice yield and growth under a variety of agro ecological conditions.
Azolla grows in freshwater ponds, lakes and other water bodies.
Price of Azolla
Azolla is profitable because you do not need to buy feeds unless you want to have supplement, but once you have azolla and look after it well, there is no need for other feeds,” Owilo said.
He said they bought and planted 10kg, and it has since multiplied to 300kg.
Owilo said they can make 100kg every two days and any fish farmer who needs it should get in touch. They sell a kilogramme at sh30,000.
“If you need to start a farm, we teach you how to grow azolla and we continue to support you until you master the process,” he said.
Owilo said with the availability of the feed (azolla and black soldier), in the near future they are planning to expand and also have more tarpaulin ponds since they are cheaper to build and maintain.
