Munyangeyo Themistocle Aquaculture farmer at Mulindi Kigali Feeds his fish in one of the ponds, Rwanda (Photo: ©FAO/Teopista Mutesi)

16 November 2016, Gasabo district, Rwanda - Munyangeyo Themistocle was exhausted and on the verge of closing his fish farm when he first heard about the FAO-Rwanda project “Support to Enhancing Development of Commercial Aquaculture (EDCA)”. The Mulindi Village farmer ventured into aquaculture in 2013, but he lacked the basic knowledge needed to build a profitable business.

“When I began fish farming, I didn’t know how to rear, catch fish, or even know how many fish to plant in a pond or a cage. I didn’t have quality fish seeds; we were using seeds introduced in 2005 with very consanguinity. My fish were also dying due to suffocation and poor handling. Production was low,” he explained.

While fish consumption in Rwanda is growing and entrepreneurs are getting their feet wet in production, aquaculture is struggling to evolve from its traditional subsistence model to a profitable commercial sub-sector. According to the Rwanda Institute of Statistics, a Rwandan consumes 2.5 kilograms of fish per year while the country’s annual production stands at 26,752 tons of fish, contributing just 0.5% to the country’s GDP. The World Health Organization recommends 14.9 kg per capita annually.

FAO in partnership with the Rwanda Agriculture Board recognized the need for a project supporting the commercial fish farm pioneers which will subsequently impact the country’s fish production capacity. In January 2015, EDCA was launched. The project trained farmers on technical skills like hatchery use for production quality fingerlings, quality fish feeds and improved feeding practices production and fertilizer application.

It also built the business skills of the participants through trainings on record keeping, business plan development, and loan applications. Through international and domestic study tours, pioneer farmers also connected with one another and developed a network of resource sharing and support that surely will far outlast the duration of the project.

For Mr. Munyangeyo and other participants, the project gave them new optimism about fish farming. “FAO support found me, and suddenly I had hope I could rescue my business” he said.

“I thank FAO for the knowledge given to us. That knowledge has helped me solve 90% of the challenges I faced in this business. After the trainings, the fish stopped dying and I introduced catfish as well finding the Tilapia stock. What I was lacking was knowledge and the skills.” 

Since the project began, Munyangeyo has expanded to 15 ponds covering 1.5 hectares in Mulindi and to 4,000 m3 of cages at Lakes Muhazi and Kivu. He and his 26 employees use their FAO provided hatchery to populate their ponds rather than buying seed of unknown quality from other providers. The hatchery can produce 1,500 frys in two days. Before it would take Munyangeyo a whole year to hatch 4,000 frys. 

Once the frys become fingerlings, he sells some to other fish farmers in and outside the country while the rest continue to grow in his own ponds. Munyangeyo’s production has increased 10 fold and now he projects to harvest more than 350 tons per year, earning him around half a million dollars profit.

Scanning his ponds he said with a grin, “This is certainly a profitable business. I intend to buy more land to dig more ponds, use more cages and expand the business. Because of this project I now think big.”