Thanks for filling out the submission form. I really enjoyed reading about your innovative work! Your website is great and I loved seeing the pictures of your students and the community you serve.
What is most intriguing to me about your work is that these for-profit businesses (hostel, milk, bacon, agriculture) began as a way to raise funds for the Shama Academy, but now are much more than a fund-raising tool. They also employ community members and stimulate the local economy.
Can you elaborate about how the school is connected to the fish farming project? Does the project employ past students? Is there a definite percentage of the profits that return to the school? Or are the two projects completely separate at this point?
Again, thanks for your entry and best of luck!
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Stephanie Marienau
Ashoka Africa Team Associate
Featured Commentator
The fact that you enjoyed reading my submission is in itself encouraging, and so thanks very much!
The linkage between the fish farming project and the school may not be apparent right now, especially because we have just started harvesting fish. However, as the fish project is based in the same location as the school, I initially considered it a social coorporate responsibility of the school, by demonstrating that the presence of the school in the area is impacting on the socioeconomic status of the neighbouring community.
One of the benefits of the school to the fish project is being a consumer, and hence providing a ready market for fish. The school has 35 employees, and I have already placed an order for two fish per employee per month for them. When this is multiplied to our other companies, for which I have placed similar orders, the fish project will have no problem in marketing their produce.
The other indirect benefit of the fish project from the school is in advertising. The school had 322 pupils by last week. Since the project is novel in our area, I expect that each of those pupils will talk about it to their parents and friends. It is also believed in our area that people who eat fish are very bright. I will not be surprised if the pupils push their parents to buy them fish!
Joseph wrote : http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20159#comment-15315
>One of the benefits of the school to the fish project is being a consumer,
>and hence providing a ready market for fish. The school has 35 employees,
>and I have already placed an order for two fish per employee per month for them.
>When this is multiplied to our other companies, for which I have placed
>similar orders, the fish project will have no problem in marketing their produce.
a fish (Tilapia) that weighs an average of 220 g (after 1 year) sells at 80 Ksh on site.
This is equivalent to 360 Ksh per kilo or much similar to the price of "white meat" like chicken, rabbit (and crocodile !).
I have visited a number of schools and probation hostels in Kenya and looked at the frequency of serving meat and the type of animal/fish protein that they eat.
Most of them eat beef and at an organizational level, they can buy it at 180-200 Ksh per kilo.
Chicken is rarely served but it can happen that it is served on a very special occasion of the year.
Because of this observation, the rabbit project does its business plan based on 200 Ksh per kilo.
For fish, Nairobi price for Tilapia fillet is about 300-400 Ksh per kilo.
So you should do better if you can market it through restaurants in Ngeri (rather than sending it to Nairobi).
I have looked at packing rabbit meat with the help of a packing company and frozen food distribution. A tagged price is 370 Ksh for 750 gm of meat (or 470 Ksh per kilo). Such companies will buy the meat at below half the price so that it fits into their business scheme.
This is what I wish to avoid as we need to make rabbit protein affordable to the general public. We need to put fish and meat to local outlets.
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development) http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
I agree with your observations fully, and for your information, we currently cannot dare feed school children with fish because of the potential dangers associated with fish bones, especially in our community which knows very little about the art of eating fish. So, at the school, the pupils are on beef, and sometimes bacon when there are no muslim pupils.
However, the staff provide an outlet, and that is why I indicated that we (employer) have placed a monthly order of fish for our staff, as part of our strategy of motivating our employees. Even then, most of them are from families with more than 2 members, and assuming that one fish is eaten by one person, then they are forced to buy more to cover each member of the family.
A marketing strategy that brings out the fact that eating this meat results in community development, in addition to the superiority of white meat, encourages locals to eat it. That is where our company comes in.
>we currently cannot dare feed school children with fish
>because of the potential dangers associated with fish bones,
true.... and specially with Tilapia which is a fish that can have big fin bones.
>the staff provide an outlet,...have placed a monthly order of fish for our staff,
>....then they are forced to buy more to cover each member of the family.
ha ha !!!
I think a good marketing strategy is to have someone fry whole tilapia on the road side in a well selected spot in Nyeri. Your Govt contacts may be useful here to help in permission formalities (?).
Very Important:
(i) sell them cheap
(ii) put a large cardboard sign with the price (100 Ksh ??).
P.S. in Nairobi outskirts, I have seen women frying those bone pieces that is just after the gills (probably rejects from fish factories). It does have some flesh on them. It is sold at 10 (ten) Ksh each. They are tasty. I have tried them
Shama Milk collects milk from farmers and sells it at our milk bars, hotels and institutions in Nyeri town while still fresh. Each day we collect up to 4000 litres and all of it is consumed. During seasons when production is high, we deliver excess milk to the KCC, whose purchase price is not good. We are hoping to start processing by the end of 2009, subject to availability of funds.
The ponds are designed to make maximum use of the land that we get. We stock them at a rate of between 3 and 5 fish per square meter. Tilapia takes around one year to mature, depending on feeding and climate. Our region is cool, and maturity is up to one year. A pond that is 10mX30m holds between 1200 and 1500 fish, and they mature at an average weight of 220g.
Joseph wrote:
>Our region is cool, and maturity is up to one year.
>A pond that is 10mX30m holds between 1200 and 1500 fish,
>and they mature at an average weight of 220g.
this means 264-330 kg per pond (3000 m2) or max 1 ton per ha (1000 kg).
this yield is low and you can definitely increase it in the future.
In Fiji (UNU project), a polyculture fish production method with algae production using biogas digester slurry. The yield was much higher (upto 5-10 tons per year per ha). At the top water level of the fish system, grass is used to feed grass carps and the algae is eaten by silver carps. We also mix it with Tilapia.
With another method - "animal droppings for fertilisation" method, Fiji ponds can get upto 2000 kg per year/ha.
Q: how are the fishes fed ?
Q: do you fertilise your ponds ?
Q: what is the temperature of the water
Q: what is the depth of the ponds.
Q: how much are you selling the fishes (220 gm size)
One of us has their maths wrong: 10mX30m equals 300m2 and not 3000m2. Going by your assumption, the target is 8 tonnes per ha per year. We also intercrop tilapia with catfish, which is doing incredibly well!
Onto your specific questions:
1. The ponds are fertilized with manure from either cows, chickens or pigs. Cow manure is widely available at reasonable costs, although we get the best performance from chicken manure.
2. We use both commercial and locally available feed. There is not special fomulation sold for fish, so we use feeds that would normally be used for livestock and supplement this with fishmeal. Leguminous crops are very useful, and we are taking advantage of those sections of leased land that ponds cannot be built to plant sweet potato vines, arrow roots and kales. The leaves are chopped up and fed to the fish.
3. Water temperature is a critical factor. During the warm seasons (80% of the time) temperatures range from 17 degrees C at night to 30 degrees C in the afternoon. During the cold season, the range is between 13 degreees C at night and 20 degrees C in the afternoon.
4. The ponds depth increases from 12 inches in the shallow end to 3ft in the deep end.
5. Sales of fish has only started recently and vigourous marketing is yet to be done. At the pond-side and the local shop, they go for 80 shillings a piece, and 100 shillings each in the local town of Nyeri. We have not started going outside Nyeri. These prices will obviously change once the project is popupar.
Joseph wrote:
>We also intercrop tilapia with catfish, which is doing incredibly well!
"intercropping" or fish polyculture is designed because of the availability of different fish food and also the special character in the habitat of the fishes (i.e. different fish gather at different levels in the water thus making full use of the total water space).
I have not read about a tilapia-catfish polyculture.
How is the feeding like ?
Does tilapia and catfish sell at the same price (80 Ksh/100 Ksh each) ?
The intercropping is done at a ratio of 9:1 tilapia:catfish, although recently, it has been reported that is possible to increase the catfish to 20%. The catfish is used to control the population of tilapia, whose multiplication rate can be pletty high. The catfish eats the tilapia young ones to control density.
The catfish in the picture we 8 months old. Each one goes at 3 times the cost of tilapia.
Joseph wrote:
>At the pond-side and the local shop, they go for 80 shillings a piece,
>and 100 shillings each in the local town of Nyeri. We have not
>started going outside Nyeri. These prices will obviously change
>once the project is popupar.
Will you increase the price when it becomes more popular ?
Approach:
the rabbit meat project has the idea to match the price of beef (cheapest meat) and to keep the price of rabbit meat cheap. Currently beef is purchased by schools at 180-200 Ksh per kilo while at the butchery it is 240 Ksh. (In Maikona goat meat is 140 Ksh). So what we are thinking is that each rabbitry at their school will supply at the school price and that a butchery can also make some money too.
Safari Park Hotel is buying from a supplier at 350 Ksh per kilo (but for dressed rabbits that are more than 3 kilo each).
The pricing strategy will be done in a manner that keeps it affordable to the local community, as an alternative source of protein, while in both Nyeri and beyond, the market will drive the cost. This is the level at which our company hopes to capitalize on, by selling fish of a guaranteed quality that can be authenticated from the source.
It is possible that in the short term, the cost to the local community will remain low because, as you may be aware, the Nyeri community are not fish-eaters, but we are determined to make them change!!
Joseph wrote:
>One of us has their maths wrong:
>10mX30m equals 300m2 and not 3000m2. Going by your assumption,
>the target is 8 tonnes per ha per year.
>We also intercrop tilapia with catfish, which is doing incredibly well!
sorry ... my maths was wrong.
With 300 m2 and yield of 1200 and 1500 fish (average weight of 220g after 1 year) and using average nr of fish as 1350, I get about about 300 kg; i.e. 1 kg per m2. That matches your stock rate of 3-5 fish per m2.
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regards
Jacky Foo
The land we lease from one farmer must be at least half an acre, with potential for expansion into neighbouring farms. If you look at the two pictures, there are many ponds on one site. The idea is to have at least one acre of land in each site. This is intended to reduce the recurrent costs, where during the day, one person is enough to feed and manage the ponds, and one security guard at night.
So, considering your maths, one acre would hold at least 6 ponds. The proceeds from one pond would take care of all costs for the year, with the rest being a profit to the group. These figures do not include the large number of fingerings (young fish) that are harvested from the same ponds for introduction into new ponds. It also does no include the sales on catfish.
An owner of such land benefits from the annual leasehold, plus the value of his/her share.
Consider also the opportunities provided by these projects to start bee keeping and poultry farming, on the same sites - the only problem now is funds and new partners like you.
>one acre would hold at least 6 ponds. The proceeds from one pond
>would take care of all costs for the year, with the rest being a profit
>to the group.
if you can get a 6-pond system to work and to prove the concept ..... you then have a working model.
If you have a business plan for this 6-pond system, you will most probably get investors.
I think having a major share investor that could provide ½ the budget isnt a bad idea since it will get a project started quickly and enable the community to benefit early.
Has the Ministry of Fisheries done any research on this 6-pond system ?
It deals with a ponds-system and how the integrated biosystem approach can be applied to improve income further. The project was taken over by ZERI Foundation after 1997 and I dont have the data for the analysis of the whole system.
it will give you an idea on how to make use of effluent pond effluent.
e.g. if you are pumping river water into the ponds, it is worth the pumping costs to have the fish ponds higher up on your valley slopes. This will enable you to use the nutrient rich effluent as irrigation water for crops (or even fish feed production such as duckweed).
note:
dont attempt to add other sub-systems until you have your conventional fish production system in operation.
It is only then that you can appreciate what an IBS can do.
I have downloaded to read when I have some more time. It will be the direction to go with our project in future. But as we are still in the early stages, I would like to see the fish activities become stable before diversifying.
You may be aware that it is difficult to get the ministry to commit financial resources. My strategy is to get government to do most of what they think they can do, without relying heavily on potential financial support from them.
A major share investor would not be welcome unless it is in the form of a grant, The group constitution forbids holding more than 81 shares (42,000 shs), to prevent monopoly.
The PS Ministry of Fisheries, has visited and his Minister was to come on the 12th of April, but we cancelled because they needed my presence and I am rather slippery. Because of the novelty of the model, most potential partners have adopted a wait and see approach, and since we are in our second year, it is possible that we are going to start attracting substantive support.
>Because of the novelty of the model, most potential partners have
>adopted a wait and see approach,
"wait and see" is still the best apporach (for you as well as the potential partners/shareholders). That is always the irony for innovators.
For the eyes of an experienced person, your business plan looks sound.
You will probably agree with me that the technique for growing Tilapia and catfish is not new.
Production has its inherited risks plus those (flooding) that come because of the natural location of the ponds.
These are the risks that you need to take care of in management.
>The idea is to have at least one acre of land in each site.
>one acre would hold at least 6 ponds. ...
>the only problem now is funds and new partners like you.....
what would be the total budget to get such a project initiated/implemented (with community share ownership and participation) until the first fish harvest is sold.
how much time is needed before stocking with fingerlings.
One acre of land goes for 12,000 shs per year. Payment for the year is done in advance. We spend about 30,000 shs per pond, which has to be completed in 10 days by 15 people. The largest number of people we have engaged at the same time is 60, working on 4 ponds at the same time. So, if funds are available, it would take a maximum of 6 weeks to complete 6 ponds, and fence them. Fencing with chicken wire and posts costs an additional 10,000 shs.
Fertilization takes a maximum 10 days and then fingerlings are introduced. Fingerlings cost 3 shs each. So, for 6 ponds at 1500 per pond, it would cost 27,000 shs. From the date of introduction of fingerlings, a caretaker and night guard are employed on a continuous basis as casuals. A dog is also bought to keep away fish predators at night. Their salaries, and fish and dog feed costs aproximately 15,000 shs per month.
So, assuming that I have not forgotten anything, this comes to 409,000 shs before the first sale. Since all members working on the project have to re-invest 10% of their proceeds to the group, and others buy shares, one third of this money would be raised internally, leaving a funding gap of about 300,000 shs.
So, if we consider the earlier maths that we did, the first year would bring in little to no profit. However, since most of the activities are done only once, subsequest years become highly profitable.
>1. The ponds are fertilized with manure from either cows,
>chickens or pigs. Cow manure is widely available at reasonable
>costs, although we get the best performance from chicken manure.
it is a common practice to fertilise directly with animal manure.
Q: does the catfish feed directly on the manure ?
This method of fertilisation of the pond has its inherited problems:
(i) faster sediment accumulation (i.e. more cleaning work)
(ii) high risk of oxygen depletion (i.e. organic matter degrades in your ponds).
So in Fiji (1995) our approach was to use the manure in a biogas digester first and then the supernatant (liquid part) is used to grow the algae and the well oxygenated "soup" is flushed into the pond (from algal basins) during mid-day. You can also put the supernatant directly into the pond (better than direct manure fertilisation).
We do not put manure directly unless in a new pond before fish are introduced. The manure is put in a sac and tied to one end of the pond. The sac is pulled out of the pond whenever the pond appears to be getting over-fertilized.
Fish do not feed directly on the manure, but rather, the phytoplanktons that grow as a result of fertilization.
Catfish feed on young tilapia and are used to control the density. They also feed on commercial feed.
Each member of the group started by paying a registration fee. The registration fee is one share in terms of owning the project.
In order to raise more money for leasing land and for digging the ponds, members bought shares in the project, up to a pre-agreed maximum. This was either in the form of money, or through digging ponds and having some of the money re-invested in the project. All members who participate in digging ponds must re-invest some of the money they get back into the project.
So, the short answer is that ponds are owned by the group.
Q: for a 10m x 30 m pond, how many shares (regardless of the form of money payment) is generally needed to each pond project before the first harvest can be made ?
It looks like a member can have more than one share in a pond.
Do I understand it correctly ?
What is the amount for a registration fee ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development) www.globetree.org
These are not determined by the ponds. All funds received by the group go into one account, and is used for all activities of the group. These include digging of ponds, feeding of fish, and security during the day and at night.
When we start with a new group, the registration fee is 500 shillings. Those without any money and could dig ponds use their labour to register. Subsequently the fee is raised to 1000 as people see opportunity to invest. One share is 500 with a maximum of 40,000. That means that a full shareholder has 81 shares. This ceiling has been put to provent the likelihood of monoploly from rich people, who might see it as their investment opportunity.
Our target group, the rural poor, continue building their shareholding, and hence their ownership, over time as they work on the project.
Joseph wrote:
>All funds received by the group go into one account,
>and is used for all activities of the group. These include
>digging of ponds, feeding of fish, and security during
>the day and at night.
thanks Joseph for sharing the info.
I think you have a good model (and interesting one) ....... and I have more questions :-)
A pond (3000 m2) yields 264-330 kg of Tilapia per year.
Q: if a share is 500 Shillings, how many shares need to be created to sustain a project pond until a harvest can be made ?.
Q: how much money can the group get from a single harvest
Q: how much is needed to re-stock and to run the next operation until the next harvest ?
(i.e. yearly operational costs)
I wish to have your comments on a problem that I have that is related to my planning of a project activity for storm water capture. There is a need for a system for sharing the captured water.
In Baqaqa (Hurri Hills in Eastern Kenya), I have identified a site (Dhao) for the construction of a mini-dam. http://www.globetree.org/africa/maikona/mini-dams.htm . The site is "community land" and this means that the current community of 13 village elders must ALL agree in order that the mini-dam can be built.
When a water capture project is aided with foreign money, there is no problem since it is a gift and everything is paid for, the local people are paid for their labour and the captured water is used by everyone who can reach it. When it comes to removing the accumulated sediments (which actually needs to be done yearly), here is when the complaints and problems start. Some villages may be ½ a day walk from the mini-dam and so these villagers need to overnight at the site. So the arguement is that nearby villages use more of the water and so they must do more of the cleaning up.
A related question
Q: how do you organize the cleaning of your fish ponds ?
Q: How is the harvest of fishes organized ?
My problem to initiate the project is because of limited funding and that I also do not believe in 100 % aid. If a project will benefit the community and the community understands the value of the project, then I would like to see "investments" made by the community (in the form of labour, money, etc). The project will double the volume of captured water at this site.
Problem 1:
Traditionally all village elders must agree to have the project. As I understand, if just one village elder does not agree, then the community land cannot be used. Because villages are dispersed and separated by long walking distances, there is this endless arguement on the differences in the access to the volume of water. They have not worked out a sharing system. Villages may also be from different tribes where tribal disputes have happened before. This is an additional problem.
A related question:
for your fish project, must a shareholder (member) come from the nearby community where the fish pond is going to be built ? Do you have a case where a shareholder is not from Nyeri but from Nairobi ?
Problem 2:
Another anticipated problem is the request for payment for labour or food during the community construction of the mini-dam.
Q: when you construct a pond, who provides the food ?
Problem 1 does not affect our project. All the land we are utilizing is either privately or government owned. For the privately owned land, the owner signs a 5 year renewable lease with the group. The owner must also be a member of the group. For government land, the local council approves the project.
On the related question of shareholders or members, anyone can become a member, on condition that he/she is introduced by a member from the project area. A significant number of members who have bought full shares come from the area but live in Nairobi. They use the project as a means to contribute to growth in their home area.
Problem 2 has been solved by ensuring that any member who works on the project is paid a day's wages, but a certain percentage is re-invested in the form of shares. This is important because some members are happy to contribute money in buying shares, but not to dig the ponds, while our target group has no other source of income, except using their manual efforts and get something to take home in return. So, they also get to feed themselves since they are earning some money.
I will answer the questions on our project first:
a) Cleaning of the ponds is done by a few members of the group, who are selected by the group committee, and they are supervised by our staff. They however have to be paid to do the job, with group money.
b) Fish harvesting is done in the same manner as cleaning the ponds, but this time, our company takes over the fish after the harvest. This is because all marketing is the responsibility of the company, for which we get a commission from the proceeds.
Coming to your project, I have for a long time believed that any project that is wholly funded without a contribution by the beneficiary community has little chance of survival, unless it is a one off investment such as a building. One needs to create a situation where members of the group are aware that their money is held in the project. They will do anything to ensure that the project remains viable. They should also not see you as a donor, but rather, a partner who will also benefit in the end. In our case for example, we make them believe that we are doing this because in the long-term, we hope to make a profit. Viewed that way, they also hold us to account for our activities.
In your case, like ours where labour is an important contribution, there will always be problems with getting everyone to contribute equally, since labour is difficult to quantify. However, if those who do the manual work can get an incentive over the rest, for example in the form of a payment, then you will have no problem.
I am beginning to understand better your management system for the "Community based fish farming in Kenya" project and I like several of the strategies and methods that you used.
The "group money" set up is very important and I can see it is one of the key factors towards success.
Beyond this ... it is the transparency and honesty in handling the money. This has been a major problem for me with some people in Nairobi. In Meru area, it has so far been wonderful. Hired people do a marvellous job and local coordinators try to save money when and wherever it is possible. I see the honesty in them.
A hidden cost is always with the dedicated coordinators. My projects dont have adequate funding for them.
In your case (I see a win-win situation), your company handles the fish harvest and gets a commission/profit. You give the support to your network suppliers (fish groups) which ensures the supplies that you need.
Unlike a "volunteer" project (like mine) where "personal gains" is not rewarded, continued dedication can be demanding and seen as additional work to the ever decreasing time that we all have. In countries like Kenya where is cost of living is increasing at a much faster rate than income, a second job/income does help to make ends meet.
You have hit the nail on the head. Honesty and trust are critical to the success and sustainability of community based projects. If left in the hands of the community or coordinators, it does not work for a long time, and you keep following everyone. That is why for our projects, a basic requirement is that project, office and financial management are provided by the company on behalf of the group.
All company staff have terms and conditions of service that require them to provide a specified standard of service. If you were, for example, to fund any of our projects, our company would be accountable to the use of funds and implementation of the project on behalf of the group. Our fees to the groups are minimal, only intended to make them understand that there is nothing for free. We provide the service as part of our social corporate responsibility.
We have four groups now. The largest is the Milk Group, with about 1500 members. The other 3 are fish groups formed during the past one year. The largest of them has just over 420 members. The other two are still recruiting. We have received several other requests to form more fish groups, but are constrained by our own mobilization funds.
>..The other 3 are fish groups formed during the past one year.
>The largest of them has just over 420 members. The other
>two are still recruiting. We have received several other
>requests to form more fish groups, but are constrained by
>our own mobilization funds.
Joseph,
I hope you dont mind my asking of too many questions. I do go into great details but carry a positive discussion even when there is a need for "risk assessments". For me it is important to know what the risks are and understand them so as to be prepared.
I think you have a good operational system for the fish ponds. (The Milk Group operation is simply esp. since there is a daily income).
If we take the 420 member group, it would make a good case study.
I then have the following questions as starters:
Q: Can you provide a financial breakdown for this 1st year experience ?
Q: what are the financial gains received
(or what gains are in the offing from the first harvest for them)
Q: how much pond space does this group have ?
one of Changemakers question in the entry form is:
>What would prevent your project from being a success?
>2. Change in government policy not to support such initiatives.
what government policy currently support the initiative financially ?
Do you think deletion of oxygen in pond would represent a high risk (fish kill) ?
I am happy to answer as many questions as possible, as they also give me an opportunity to consider aspects of the project that may not be obvious.
1. A rsik assessment was the first activity we carried out and it is in the project document.
2. There is a financial breakdown for the first year, and I can tell you it has been a difficult year, considering that there were no sales of fish, and we have been agressively recruiting more land. Access to group accounts would however be subject to approval by the group, and although I am their patron, I am a proponent of honest democaracy.
3. The only people who to-date have had any financial gains are the members who work on the project, caretakers and guards in form of wages. The rest of the members will not gain until we stop further recruitment of land, or there is a donor who meets the investment and recurrent costs. However, members have now come to appreciate that the major investments have been made, and it is only a matter of time for them to start benefiting.
4. I need to confirm this, but I think we already have 10 acres under ponds, with two more to be finalized in the next two months. We shall take a break for some time after that, to review what has been done and strategize for the future.
5. The current policy in Kenya encourages public-private partnerships. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has to license projects such as ours. Any change in policy in these two areas that is not in our favour would be detrimental to the project. That is one of the reasons why we have to work closely with government.
PS: The milk business is more difficult than you imagine: what with milk adulteration, theft, unfair competition, etc?
I find this a very impressive project for two main reasons. First, the overall aim is a very worthy one. It both uses previously idle land and also gets unemployed youth involved in community-based fish farming so there is real added value here in the best sense of that notion. There is also a local health improvement aspect in that local fish consumption will increase. The second generally impressive aspect is the logic and robustness of the business plan that has been put forward for the life of the project. The plan shows strong evidence of the proposer's project management experience with a clear timeline for achievable and worthwhile goals at the end of each year. Morevoer, the re-investment of the funds generated will contribute powerfully to the sustainability of the project. This project offers a real prospect of creating new jobs and thereby reducing the local level of poverty. If this approach is proved to be successful then it could also be adopted at a national level.
Thank you very much for the encouraging observations. Everything to say comprises the foundation of this project, and we are indeed committed to its success.
I read your comment on the fish pond, and would like to know if you can share some insight with me.
I am trying to see how to best start a fish pond project in rural zambia
The rural agricultural department will assist with technical training and building of the pond.
the community will provide bricks, and other local materials for the construction of the pond. The pond will be at a village headman site. This headman started a fish pond couple years ago. But due to lack of cement they couldn't make it a all year fish pond.
the goal is to create a pond that can support the community all year long. this community pond will also be used to alimented seasonal pond during the rain season.
what we need help with is how to best assist the community with management and distribution.
should they have a club? or form a cooperative?
Comentários
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for filling out the submission form. I really enjoyed reading about your innovative work! Your website is great and I loved seeing the pictures of your students and the community you serve.
What is most intriguing to me about your work is that these for-profit businesses (hostel, milk, bacon, agriculture) began as a way to raise funds for the Shama Academy, but now are much more than a fund-raising tool. They also employ community members and stimulate the local economy.
Can you elaborate about how the school is connected to the fish farming project? Does the project employ past students? Is there a definite percentage of the profits that return to the school? Or are the two projects completely separate at this point?
Again, thanks for your entry and best of luck!
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Stephanie Marienau
Ashoka Africa Team Associate
Featured Commentator
Hello Stephanie,
The fact that you enjoyed reading my submission is in itself encouraging, and so thanks very much!
The linkage between the fish farming project and the school may not be apparent right now, especially because we have just started harvesting fish. However, as the fish project is based in the same location as the school, I initially considered it a social coorporate responsibility of the school, by demonstrating that the presence of the school in the area is impacting on the socioeconomic status of the neighbouring community.
One of the benefits of the school to the fish project is being a consumer, and hence providing a ready market for fish. The school has 35 employees, and I have already placed an order for two fish per employee per month for them. When this is multiplied to our other companies, for which I have placed similar orders, the fish project will have no problem in marketing their produce.
The other indirect benefit of the fish project from the school is in advertising. The school had 322 pupils by last week. Since the project is novel in our area, I expect that each of those pupils will talk about it to their parents and friends. It is also believed in our area that people who eat fish are very bright. I will not be surprised if the pupils push their parents to buy them fish!
Best wishes,
Joseph
Joseph wrote :
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20159#comment-15315
>One of the benefits of the school to the fish project is being a consumer,
>and hence providing a ready market for fish. The school has 35 employees,
>and I have already placed an order for two fish per employee per month for them.
>When this is multiplied to our other companies, for which I have placed
>similar orders, the fish project will have no problem in marketing their produce.
a fish (Tilapia) that weighs an average of 220 g (after 1 year) sells at 80 Ksh on site.
This is equivalent to 360 Ksh per kilo or much similar to the price of "white meat" like chicken, rabbit (and crocodile !).
I have visited a number of schools and probation hostels in Kenya and looked at the frequency of serving meat and the type of animal/fish protein that they eat.
Most of them eat beef and at an organizational level, they can buy it at 180-200 Ksh per kilo.
Chicken is rarely served but it can happen that it is served on a very special occasion of the year.
Because of this observation, the rabbit project does its business plan based on 200 Ksh per kilo.
For fish, Nairobi price for Tilapia fillet is about 300-400 Ksh per kilo.
So you should do better if you can market it through restaurants in Ngeri (rather than sending it to Nairobi).
I have looked at packing rabbit meat with the help of a packing company and frozen food distribution. A tagged price is 370 Ksh for 750 gm of meat (or 470 Ksh per kilo). Such companies will buy the meat at below half the price so that it fits into their business scheme.
This is what I wish to avoid as we need to make rabbit protein affordable to the general public. We need to put fish and meat to local outlets.
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
I agree with your observations fully, and for your information, we currently cannot dare feed school children with fish because of the potential dangers associated with fish bones, especially in our community which knows very little about the art of eating fish. So, at the school, the pupils are on beef, and sometimes bacon when there are no muslim pupils.
However, the staff provide an outlet, and that is why I indicated that we (employer) have placed a monthly order of fish for our staff, as part of our strategy of motivating our employees. Even then, most of them are from families with more than 2 members, and assuming that one fish is eaten by one person, then they are forced to buy more to cover each member of the family.
A marketing strategy that brings out the fact that eating this meat results in community development, in addition to the superiority of white meat, encourages locals to eat it. That is where our company comes in.
Regards,
Joseph
>we currently cannot dare feed school children with fish
>because of the potential dangers associated with fish bones,
true.... and specially with Tilapia which is a fish that can have big fin bones.
>the staff provide an outlet,...have placed a monthly order of fish for our staff,
>....then they are forced to buy more to cover each member of the family.
ha ha !!!
I think a good marketing strategy is to have someone fry whole tilapia on the road side in a well selected spot in Nyeri. Your Govt contacts may be useful here to help in permission formalities (?).
Very Important:
(i) sell them cheap
(ii) put a large cardboard sign with the price (100 Ksh ??).
P.S. in Nairobi outskirts, I have seen women frying those bone pieces that is just after the gills (probably rejects from fish factories). It does have some flesh on them. It is sold at 10 (ten) Ksh each. They are tasty. I have tried them
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regards
Jacky Foo
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
These are certainly great ideas and we are going to consider them.
Thanks Jacky,
Joseph
I love it! I can see the marketing campaign now: "Bright fish from a bright school!"
Thank you for the clarification and good luck!
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Stephanie Marienau
Ashoka Africa Team Associate
Featured Commentator
I have added videos and pictures that could provide further insight to the project
JOSEPH NDUNGU
>Currently, Shama Farmers Self Help Group has more than 1500 members
>who deliver their milk to Shama Milk
what is the daily demand for milk at "Shama Milk" ?
How is fresh milk currently sold ?
Is any of it processed into e.g. yoghurt ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Hello Jacky,
Shama Milk collects milk from farmers and sells it at our milk bars, hotels and institutions in Nyeri town while still fresh. Each day we collect up to 4000 litres and all of it is consumed. During seasons when production is high, we deliver excess milk to the KCC, whose purchase price is not good. We are hoping to start processing by the end of 2009, subject to availability of funds.
I would be happy to provide further information.
Best wishes,
Joseph
There are two pictures with ponds
http://www.changemakers.net/files/Phase%202Nov08.JPG
http://www.changemakers.net/files/CIMG1186.JPG
They look like different pond systems.
Can you tell me more about the productivity in terms of surface water area and yield ?
Thanks
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regards
Jacky Foo
Dear Jacky,
The ponds are designed to make maximum use of the land that we get. We stock them at a rate of between 3 and 5 fish per square meter. Tilapia takes around one year to mature, depending on feeding and climate. Our region is cool, and maturity is up to one year. A pond that is 10mX30m holds between 1200 and 1500 fish, and they mature at an average weight of 220g.
Best wishes,
Joseph
Joseph wrote:
>Our region is cool, and maturity is up to one year.
>A pond that is 10mX30m holds between 1200 and 1500 fish,
>and they mature at an average weight of 220g.
this means 264-330 kg per pond (3000 m2) or max 1 ton per ha (1000 kg).
this yield is low and you can definitely increase it in the future.
In Fiji (UNU project), a polyculture fish production method with algae production using biogas digester slurry. The yield was much higher (upto 5-10 tons per year per ha). At the top water level of the fish system, grass is used to feed grass carps and the algae is eaten by silver carps. We also mix it with Tilapia.
With another method - "animal droppings for fertilisation" method, Fiji ponds can get upto 2000 kg per year/ha.
Q: how are the fishes fed ?
Q: do you fertilise your ponds ?
Q: what is the temperature of the water
Q: what is the depth of the ponds.
Q: how much are you selling the fishes (220 gm size)
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
Sorry I almost missed this one:
One of us has their maths wrong: 10mX30m equals 300m2 and not 3000m2. Going by your assumption, the target is 8 tonnes per ha per year. We also intercrop tilapia with catfish, which is doing incredibly well!
Onto your specific questions:
1. The ponds are fertilized with manure from either cows, chickens or pigs. Cow manure is widely available at reasonable costs, although we get the best performance from chicken manure.
2. We use both commercial and locally available feed. There is not special fomulation sold for fish, so we use feeds that would normally be used for livestock and supplement this with fishmeal. Leguminous crops are very useful, and we are taking advantage of those sections of leased land that ponds cannot be built to plant sweet potato vines, arrow roots and kales. The leaves are chopped up and fed to the fish.
3. Water temperature is a critical factor. During the warm seasons (80% of the time) temperatures range from 17 degrees C at night to 30 degrees C in the afternoon. During the cold season, the range is between 13 degreees C at night and 20 degrees C in the afternoon.
4. The ponds depth increases from 12 inches in the shallow end to 3ft in the deep end.
5. Sales of fish has only started recently and vigourous marketing is yet to be done. At the pond-side and the local shop, they go for 80 shillings a piece, and 100 shillings each in the local town of Nyeri. We have not started going outside Nyeri. These prices will obviously change once the project is popupar.
Best wishes,
Joseph
Joseph wrote:
>We also intercrop tilapia with catfish, which is doing incredibly well!
"intercropping" or fish polyculture is designed because of the availability of different fish food and also the special character in the habitat of the fishes (i.e. different fish gather at different levels in the water thus making full use of the total water space).
I have not read about a tilapia-catfish polyculture.
How is the feeding like ?
Does tilapia and catfish sell at the same price (80 Ksh/100 Ksh each) ?
How old is the catfish in the image
http://www.changemakers.com/files/CIMG1422.JPG
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
The intercropping is done at a ratio of 9:1 tilapia:catfish, although recently, it has been reported that is possible to increase the catfish to 20%. The catfish is used to control the population of tilapia, whose multiplication rate can be pletty high. The catfish eats the tilapia young ones to control density.
The catfish in the picture we 8 months old. Each one goes at 3 times the cost of tilapia.
Regards,
Joseph
Joseph wrote:
>At the pond-side and the local shop, they go for 80 shillings a piece,
>and 100 shillings each in the local town of Nyeri. We have not
>started going outside Nyeri. These prices will obviously change
>once the project is popupar.
Will you increase the price when it becomes more popular ?
Approach:
the rabbit meat project has the idea to match the price of beef (cheapest meat) and to keep the price of rabbit meat cheap. Currently beef is purchased by schools at 180-200 Ksh per kilo while at the butchery it is 240 Ksh. (In Maikona goat meat is 140 Ksh). So what we are thinking is that each rabbitry at their school will supply at the school price and that a butchery can also make some money too.
Safari Park Hotel is buying from a supplier at 350 Ksh per kilo (but for dressed rabbits that are more than 3 kilo each).
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
The pricing strategy will be done in a manner that keeps it affordable to the local community, as an alternative source of protein, while in both Nyeri and beyond, the market will drive the cost. This is the level at which our company hopes to capitalize on, by selling fish of a guaranteed quality that can be authenticated from the source.
It is possible that in the short term, the cost to the local community will remain low because, as you may be aware, the Nyeri community are not fish-eaters, but we are determined to make them change!!
Joseph wrote:
>One of us has their maths wrong:
>10mX30m equals 300m2 and not 3000m2. Going by your assumption,
>the target is 8 tonnes per ha per year.
>We also intercrop tilapia with catfish, which is doing incredibly well!
sorry ... my maths was wrong.
With 300 m2 and yield of 1200 and 1500 fish (average weight of 220g after 1 year) and using average nr of fish as 1350, I get about about 300 kg; i.e. 1 kg per m2. That matches your stock rate of 3-5 fish per m2.
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regards
Jacky Foo
using average nr of fish as 1350, .....and if sold at 80 sk per fish, you can get a potential income of 108,000 Ksh per year from 300 m2 of land.
what would be the return to an owner who has just one share of a pond ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
Now we are on the same page.
The land we lease from one farmer must be at least half an acre, with potential for expansion into neighbouring farms. If you look at the two pictures, there are many ponds on one site. The idea is to have at least one acre of land in each site. This is intended to reduce the recurrent costs, where during the day, one person is enough to feed and manage the ponds, and one security guard at night.
So, considering your maths, one acre would hold at least 6 ponds. The proceeds from one pond would take care of all costs for the year, with the rest being a profit to the group. These figures do not include the large number of fingerings (young fish) that are harvested from the same ponds for introduction into new ponds. It also does no include the sales on catfish.
An owner of such land benefits from the annual leasehold, plus the value of his/her share.
Consider also the opportunities provided by these projects to start bee keeping and poultry farming, on the same sites - the only problem now is funds and new partners like you.
Regards,
Joseph
>one acre would hold at least 6 ponds. The proceeds from one pond
>would take care of all costs for the year, with the rest being a profit
>to the group.
if you can get a 6-pond system to work and to prove the concept ..... you then have a working model.
If you have a business plan for this 6-pond system, you will most probably get investors.
I think having a major share investor that could provide ½ the budget isnt a bad idea since it will get a project started quickly and enable the community to benefit early.
Has the Ministry of Fisheries done any research on this 6-pond system ?
regards
Jacky Foo
Hi Joseph
take a look at http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/fiji/index.htm
which is on a project in Fiji (1995-1997) that I coordinated.
It deals with a ponds-system and how the integrated biosystem approach can be applied to improve income further. The project was taken over by ZERI Foundation after 1997 and I dont have the data for the analysis of the whole system.
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regards
Jacky Foo
Okay, I will certainly visit the site and get back to you with my intentions.
Thanks for the advise.
Joseph
also take a look at
http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/bangladesh/
it will give you an idea on how to make use of effluent pond effluent.
e.g. if you are pumping river water into the ponds, it is worth the pumping costs to have the fish ponds higher up on your valley slopes. This will enable you to use the nutrient rich effluent as irrigation water for crops (or even fish feed production such as duckweed).
note:
dont attempt to add other sub-systems until you have your conventional fish production system in operation.
It is only then that you can appreciate what an IBS can do.
regards
jacky
I have downloaded to read when I have some more time. It will be the direction to go with our project in future. But as we are still in the early stages, I would like to see the fish activities become stable before diversifying.
Regards,
Joseph
You may be aware that it is difficult to get the ministry to commit financial resources. My strategy is to get government to do most of what they think they can do, without relying heavily on potential financial support from them.
A major share investor would not be welcome unless it is in the form of a grant, The group constitution forbids holding more than 81 shares (42,000 shs), to prevent monopoly.
The PS Ministry of Fisheries, has visited and his Minister was to come on the 12th of April, but we cancelled because they needed my presence and I am rather slippery. Because of the novelty of the model, most potential partners have adopted a wait and see approach, and since we are in our second year, it is possible that we are going to start attracting substantive support.
Best wishes,
Joseph
>Because of the novelty of the model, most potential partners have
>adopted a wait and see approach,
"wait and see" is still the best apporach (for you as well as the potential partners/shareholders). That is always the irony for innovators.
For the eyes of an experienced person, your business plan looks sound.
You will probably agree with me that the technique for growing Tilapia and catfish is not new.
Production has its inherited risks plus those (flooding) that come because of the natural location of the ponds.
These are the risks that you need to take care of in management.
A business with construction investments that has a 1 or 1½ years payback period is good.
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
>The idea is to have at least one acre of land in each site.
>one acre would hold at least 6 ponds. ...
>the only problem now is funds and new partners like you.....
what would be the total budget to get such a project initiated/implemented (with community share ownership and participation) until the first fish harvest is sold.
how much time is needed before stocking with fingerlings.
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regards
Jacky Foo
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
Tough questions.
One acre of land goes for 12,000 shs per year. Payment for the year is done in advance. We spend about 30,000 shs per pond, which has to be completed in 10 days by 15 people. The largest number of people we have engaged at the same time is 60, working on 4 ponds at the same time. So, if funds are available, it would take a maximum of 6 weeks to complete 6 ponds, and fence them. Fencing with chicken wire and posts costs an additional 10,000 shs.
Fertilization takes a maximum 10 days and then fingerlings are introduced. Fingerlings cost 3 shs each. So, for 6 ponds at 1500 per pond, it would cost 27,000 shs. From the date of introduction of fingerlings, a caretaker and night guard are employed on a continuous basis as casuals. A dog is also bought to keep away fish predators at night. Their salaries, and fish and dog feed costs aproximately 15,000 shs per month.
So, assuming that I have not forgotten anything, this comes to 409,000 shs before the first sale. Since all members working on the project have to re-invest 10% of their proceeds to the group, and others buy shares, one third of this money would be raised internally, leaving a funding gap of about 300,000 shs.
So, if we consider the earlier maths that we did, the first year would bring in little to no profit. However, since most of the activities are done only once, subsequest years become highly profitable.
I hope I am convincing.
Best wishes,
Joseph
>1. The ponds are fertilized with manure from either cows,
>chickens or pigs. Cow manure is widely available at reasonable
>costs, although we get the best performance from chicken manure.
it is a common practice to fertilise directly with animal manure.
Q: does the catfish feed directly on the manure ?
This method of fertilisation of the pond has its inherited problems:
(i) faster sediment accumulation (i.e. more cleaning work)
(ii) high risk of oxygen depletion (i.e. organic matter degrades in your ponds).
So in Fiji (1995) our approach was to use the manure in a biogas digester first and then the supernatant (liquid part) is used to grow the algae and the well oxygenated "soup" is flushed into the pond (from algal basins) during mid-day. You can also put the supernatant directly into the pond (better than direct manure fertilisation).
See paper : Kangmin Li & Qiuhua Wang (2000). Digester Fishpond Interaction in Integrated Biomass System
http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/ic-mfa/li/index.html
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
Thank you very much for the suggestions.
We do not put manure directly unless in a new pond before fish are introduced. The manure is put in a sac and tied to one end of the pond. The sac is pulled out of the pond whenever the pond appears to be getting over-fertilized.
Fish do not feed directly on the manure, but rather, the phytoplanktons that grow as a result of fertilization.
Catfish feed on young tilapia and are used to control the density. They also feed on commercial feed.
Regards,
Joseph
I have downloaded this also.
Best wishes,
Joseph
>Ownership and participation of the community will ensure sustainability.
I did not quite understand the ownership part.... sorry.
Who owns the ponds in
http://www.changemakers.net/files/Phase%202Nov08.JPG
http://www.changemakers.net/files/CIMG1186.JPG
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regards
Jacky Foo
Dear Jackie,
Each member of the group started by paying a registration fee. The registration fee is one share in terms of owning the project.
In order to raise more money for leasing land and for digging the ponds, members bought shares in the project, up to a pre-agreed maximum. This was either in the form of money, or through digging ponds and having some of the money re-invested in the project. All members who participate in digging ponds must re-invest some of the money they get back into the project.
So, the short answer is that ponds are owned by the group.
Best wishes,
Joseph
thanks for the info.
Q: for a 10m x 30 m pond, how many shares (regardless of the form of money payment) is generally needed to each pond project before the first harvest can be made ?
It looks like a member can have more than one share in a pond.
Do I understand it correctly ?
What is the amount for a registration fee ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
www.globetree.org
These are not determined by the ponds. All funds received by the group go into one account, and is used for all activities of the group. These include digging of ponds, feeding of fish, and security during the day and at night.
When we start with a new group, the registration fee is 500 shillings. Those without any money and could dig ponds use their labour to register. Subsequently the fee is raised to 1000 as people see opportunity to invest. One share is 500 with a maximum of 40,000. That means that a full shareholder has 81 shares. This ceiling has been put to provent the likelihood of monoploly from rich people, who might see it as their investment opportunity.
Our target group, the rural poor, continue building their shareholding, and hence their ownership, over time as they work on the project.
Best wishes,
Joseph
Joseph wrote:
>All funds received by the group go into one account,
>and is used for all activities of the group. These include
>digging of ponds, feeding of fish, and security during
>the day and at night.
thanks Joseph for sharing the info.
I think you have a good model (and interesting one) ....... and I have more questions :-)
A pond (3000 m2) yields 264-330 kg of Tilapia per year.
Q: if a share is 500 Shillings, how many shares need to be created to sustain a project pond until a harvest can be made ?.
Q: how much money can the group get from a single harvest
Q: how much is needed to re-stock and to run the next operation until the next harvest ?
(i.e. yearly operational costs)
Q: how many ponds are in operation now ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
Dear Joseph
I wish to have your comments on a problem that I have that is related to my planning of a project activity for storm water capture. There is a need for a system for sharing the captured water.
In Baqaqa (Hurri Hills in Eastern Kenya), I have identified a site (Dhao) for the construction of a mini-dam.
http://www.globetree.org/africa/maikona/mini-dams.htm . The site is "community land" and this means that the current community of 13 village elders must ALL agree in order that the mini-dam can be built.
When a water capture project is aided with foreign money, there is no problem since it is a gift and everything is paid for, the local people are paid for their labour and the captured water is used by everyone who can reach it. When it comes to removing the accumulated sediments (which actually needs to be done yearly), here is when the complaints and problems start. Some villages may be ½ a day walk from the mini-dam and so these villagers need to overnight at the site. So the arguement is that nearby villages use more of the water and so they must do more of the cleaning up.
A related question
Q: how do you organize the cleaning of your fish ponds ?
Q: How is the harvest of fishes organized ?
My problem to initiate the project is because of limited funding and that I also do not believe in 100 % aid. If a project will benefit the community and the community understands the value of the project, then I would like to see "investments" made by the community (in the form of labour, money, etc). The project will double the volume of captured water at this site.
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
contd:
Problem 1:
Traditionally all village elders must agree to have the project. As I understand, if just one village elder does not agree, then the community land cannot be used. Because villages are dispersed and separated by long walking distances, there is this endless arguement on the differences in the access to the volume of water. They have not worked out a sharing system. Villages may also be from different tribes where tribal disputes have happened before. This is an additional problem.
A related question:
for your fish project, must a shareholder (member) come from the nearby community where the fish pond is going to be built ? Do you have a case where a shareholder is not from Nyeri but from Nairobi ?
Problem 2:
Another anticipated problem is the request for payment for labour or food during the community construction of the mini-dam.
Q: when you construct a pond, who provides the food ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Dear Jacky,
Problem 1 does not affect our project. All the land we are utilizing is either privately or government owned. For the privately owned land, the owner signs a 5 year renewable lease with the group. The owner must also be a member of the group. For government land, the local council approves the project.
On the related question of shareholders or members, anyone can become a member, on condition that he/she is introduced by a member from the project area. A significant number of members who have bought full shares come from the area but live in Nairobi. They use the project as a means to contribute to growth in their home area.
Problem 2 has been solved by ensuring that any member who works on the project is paid a day's wages, but a certain percentage is re-invested in the form of shares. This is important because some members are happy to contribute money in buying shares, but not to dig the ponds, while our target group has no other source of income, except using their manual efforts and get something to take home in return. So, they also get to feed themselves since they are earning some money.
Best wishes,
Joseph
I will answer the questions on our project first:
a) Cleaning of the ponds is done by a few members of the group, who are selected by the group committee, and they are supervised by our staff. They however have to be paid to do the job, with group money.
b) Fish harvesting is done in the same manner as cleaning the ponds, but this time, our company takes over the fish after the harvest. This is because all marketing is the responsibility of the company, for which we get a commission from the proceeds.
Coming to your project, I have for a long time believed that any project that is wholly funded without a contribution by the beneficiary community has little chance of survival, unless it is a one off investment such as a building. One needs to create a situation where members of the group are aware that their money is held in the project. They will do anything to ensure that the project remains viable. They should also not see you as a donor, but rather, a partner who will also benefit in the end. In our case for example, we make them believe that we are doing this because in the long-term, we hope to make a profit. Viewed that way, they also hold us to account for our activities.
In your case, like ours where labour is an important contribution, there will always be problems with getting everyone to contribute equally, since labour is difficult to quantify. However, if those who do the manual work can get an incentive over the rest, for example in the form of a payment, then you will have no problem.
I hope I have answered you correctly.
Best wishes from DRC!
Joseph
Hi Joseph
I am beginning to understand better your management system for the "Community based fish farming in Kenya" project and I like several of the strategies and methods that you used.
The "group money" set up is very important and I can see it is one of the key factors towards success.
Beyond this ... it is the transparency and honesty in handling the money. This has been a major problem for me with some people in Nairobi. In Meru area, it has so far been wonderful. Hired people do a marvellous job and local coordinators try to save money when and wherever it is possible. I see the honesty in them.
A hidden cost is always with the dedicated coordinators. My projects dont have adequate funding for them.
In your case (I see a win-win situation), your company handles the fish harvest and gets a commission/profit. You give the support to your network suppliers (fish groups) which ensures the supplies that you need.
Unlike a "volunteer" project (like mine) where "personal gains" is not rewarded, continued dedication can be demanding and seen as additional work to the ever decreasing time that we all have. In countries like Kenya where is cost of living is increasing at a much faster rate than income, a second job/income does help to make ends meet.
How many fish groups do you have ?
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regards
Jacky Foo
Program Officer (Environment and Sustainable Development)
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/20304
Hi Jacky,
You have hit the nail on the head. Honesty and trust are critical to the success and sustainability of community based projects. If left in the hands of the community or coordinators, it does not work for a long time, and you keep following everyone. That is why for our projects, a basic requirement is that project, office and financial management are provided by the company on behalf of the group.
All company staff have terms and conditions of service that require them to provide a specified standard of service. If you were, for example, to fund any of our projects, our company would be accountable to the use of funds and implementation of the project on behalf of the group. Our fees to the groups are minimal, only intended to make them understand that there is nothing for free. We provide the service as part of our social corporate responsibility.
We have four groups now. The largest is the Milk Group, with about 1500 members. The other 3 are fish groups formed during the past one year. The largest of them has just over 420 members. The other two are still recruiting. We have received several other requests to form more fish groups, but are constrained by our own mobilization funds.
Regards,
Joseph
>..The other 3 are fish groups formed during the past one year.
>The largest of them has just over 420 members. The other
>two are still recruiting. We have received several other
>requests to form more fish groups, but are constrained by
>our own mobilization funds.
Joseph,
I hope you dont mind my asking of too many questions. I do go into great details but carry a positive discussion even when there is a need for "risk assessments". For me it is important to know what the risks are and understand them so as to be prepared.
I think you have a good operational system for the fish ponds. (The Milk Group operation is simply esp. since there is a daily income).
If we take the 420 member group, it would make a good case study.
I then have the following questions as starters:
Q: Can you provide a financial breakdown for this 1st year experience ?
Q: what are the financial gains received
(or what gains are in the offing from the first harvest for them)
Q: how much pond space does this group have ?
one of Changemakers question in the entry form is:
>What would prevent your project from being a success?
>2. Change in government policy not to support such initiatives.
what government policy currently support the initiative financially ?
Do you think deletion of oxygen in pond would represent a high risk (fish kill) ?
thanks
Jacky Foo
Dear Jacky,
I am happy to answer as many questions as possible, as they also give me an opportunity to consider aspects of the project that may not be obvious.
1. A rsik assessment was the first activity we carried out and it is in the project document.
2. There is a financial breakdown for the first year, and I can tell you it has been a difficult year, considering that there were no sales of fish, and we have been agressively recruiting more land. Access to group accounts would however be subject to approval by the group, and although I am their patron, I am a proponent of honest democaracy.
3. The only people who to-date have had any financial gains are the members who work on the project, caretakers and guards in form of wages. The rest of the members will not gain until we stop further recruitment of land, or there is a donor who meets the investment and recurrent costs. However, members have now come to appreciate that the major investments have been made, and it is only a matter of time for them to start benefiting.
4. I need to confirm this, but I think we already have 10 acres under ponds, with two more to be finalized in the next two months. We shall take a break for some time after that, to review what has been done and strategize for the future.
5. The current policy in Kenya encourages public-private partnerships. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has to license projects such as ours. Any change in policy in these two areas that is not in our favour would be detrimental to the project. That is one of the reasons why we have to work closely with government.
PS: The milk business is more difficult than you imagine: what with milk adulteration, theft, unfair competition, etc?
Best regards,
Joseph
I find this a very impressive project for two main reasons. First, the overall aim is a very worthy one. It both uses previously idle land and also gets unemployed youth involved in community-based fish farming so there is real added value here in the best sense of that notion. There is also a local health improvement aspect in that local fish consumption will increase. The second generally impressive aspect is the logic and robustness of the business plan that has been put forward for the life of the project. The plan shows strong evidence of the proposer's project management experience with a clear timeline for achievable and worthwhile goals at the end of each year. Morevoer, the re-investment of the funds generated will contribute powerfully to the sustainability of the project. This project offers a real prospect of creating new jobs and thereby reducing the local level of poverty. If this approach is proved to be successful then it could also be adopted at a national level.
Dear Peter,
Thank you very much for the encouraging observations. Everything to say comprises the foundation of this project, and we are indeed committed to its success.
Best wishes,
Joseph
I read your comment on the fish pond, and would like to know if you can share some insight with me.
I am trying to see how to best start a fish pond project in rural zambia
The rural agricultural department will assist with technical training and building of the pond.
the community will provide bricks, and other local materials for the construction of the pond. The pond will be at a village headman site. This headman started a fish pond couple years ago. But due to lack of cement they couldn't make it a all year fish pond.
the goal is to create a pond that can support the community all year long. this community pond will also be used to alimented seasonal pond during the rain season.
what we need help with is how to best assist the community with management and distribution.
should they have a club? or form a cooperative?
Thank you
Verly
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