SINGITA Grumeti Reserves through the Grumeti Fund supports the
introduction of fish farming in two rural villages of Serengeti District
in Mara Region in a bid to improve the diets of families and increase
incomes.
It is hoped that the dependency on wild game found in Serengeti National Park for consumption and business is greatly reduced.
The villages are Bonchugu and Robanda which have highest number of
poachers in the district. Both villages are adjacent to Grumeti/
Ikorongo game reserves in the western Serengeti. But a section of
Robanda village is also within the Ikoma Wildlife Management Areas (WMA)
that is potential for photographic tourism.
The project started in late 2010 when SGF provided the villages with
15,000 fish fingerlings that were placed in dams constructed in the
villages several years ago. Bonchugu got 10,000 fish fingerlings and
Robanda 5000. "The aim is to give our neighbours the villagers an
alternative animal protein and we believe they will also sell some of
the fish and boost their incomes", SGF Programme Outreach Programme
Co-coordinator Mr Richard Ndaskoi said.
The villagers have been trained on fish farming best practices
provided by experts from the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute
(TAFRI). Bonchugu village government chairman Mr Makena Mwikwabe said
four groups made up of women and men engage in fish farming in his
village.
"Already one group comprising 16 people will soon be able to fish the
mature fish," Mr Mwikwabe said. Serengeti is the only district in Mara
region which does not access Lake Victoria unlike Rorya, Bunda, Musoma
and Tarime districts. Bonchugu village chairman welcomed the project,
saying that it will play a crucial role to reduce poaching incidents in
the area."
People will sell fish at the village market and those who will
continue killing wild animals looking for bush meat when there is fish
will be taken to task", the village chief warned. Mr Kenyatta Richard
Msoke, one of the beneficiaries of the project from Robanda village
described the fish as tastier than game meat.
"This is good project because it will also help us to generate
income", Mr Kenyatta told the 'Daily News' recently. He said that the
price of fish weighing at 400 grams is 3,500/- in the area. "We will
sell fish to the tourist tented camps operating near our village", Mr
Kenyatta pointed out.
Robanda village has the highest number of tented camps which attract
visitors from all over the world who flock western Serengeti to view the
wild life. An official with Shirati TAFRI office, Mr Athanas Mbonde,
estimates that there is over one ton of fish ready for harvesting in
both villages.
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