A six-member team has been constituted by the Kisumu County Government to revive key ailing sub-sectors of the economy that are critical to the growth of the lake side region.
The team has been picked to collaborate with Equity Bank Kenya for intervention in revival of some ailing agriculture sub-sectors and enhance cross border trade.
Kisumu Governor Prof Anyang Nyong’o selected the team to join the taskforce during a meeting with Equity Bank Kenya acting Managing Director Moses Nyabanda who called on him at his office in Kisumu City accompanied by Equity Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Sam Gitwekere, an Associate Director for Public Sector, and Institutions Ambassador Mary Mugwanja.
The taskforce will explore fishery support for small scale fisher folk, resuscitation of rice and cotton sub-sectors, as well as the sugar cane industry where milling capacity has dwindled, with only Kibos Milling plant left.
“Fishing has traditionally been a subsistence activity with catches from the lake sold here and some taken upcountry. The fish landing sites need to be upgraded to encourage fishing and processing by the small scale fisher folk through organized groups in cooperatives,” remarked Nyongó, adding that there is need to add value to the sub-sector.
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The governor said the quantity of fish caught from Lake Victoria has gone up courtesy of cage fish farming, but only benefits big players.
“The danger of using traditional boats for fishing is that hardwood is no longer available. Small fisher folk need to be organized to use fibre boats. There are a lot of opportunities for Equity to finance them to move from petty fishing to capital funded input for commercial fishing,” he said, urging small fishers to embrace the more sustainable cage farming.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Nyabanda said Equity is committed to delivering findings by the taskforce in three weeks’ time to begin addressing touch points raised by the governor.
“We had a substantive engagement on how the subsistence fisher folk can be supported on their journeys to grouping in cooperatives and also for capacity building and inputs supply to transform their lives,” he said, noting that it is through such support that Equity differentiates itself in the marketplace.
By Fredrick Odiero
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