Today I joined KASFOOC to watch a pond being harvested. It was not pretty I am afraid to report. Only 86 fish harvested. No money from previous harvest profits has been put aside for the next order of fingerlings or feed. I had a long talk with the farmer about kiloes of feed in, kiloes of fish out. We want the farmer to get 8ksh return on 1Ksh every 8 months.
I spent the next 3 hours hiking around visiting fish farmers and discussing inputs, outputs. The good news is that all are keen to attend the training on Tuesday. My hope is that they are there to learn and not to receive a hand-out. They will be disappointed if they are there for the hand-out. These ponds are about 1/3 to 1/2 the size they need to be to be to be economical.
This Tuesday we have arranged a full day of technical training and field trip to nearby fish farms that have been sponsored by the Kenyan government. This is training given by local extension officers that I met with last week at Zachary's harvest. It will be a rare opportunity to have all the Rotary sponsored farmers in one place. One of the objectives of the Rotary District Community Grant is to convert these independents into a cohesive group that share labour and pool capital. We have two mini buses rented for the day for 28 farmers for $100. The trainers are free.
Meanwhile, a couple kilometres away from the ponds, the construction of Protected Springs continues and is going well. Today's big decison was what signage to put on the springs. I chose the cheapest, simplest most permanent option: "Rotary & KASFOOC 2012" etched into wet cement. The metal plates we put on the last springs are great and have the name of all the supporting Rotary Clubs, but will not last more than 5 years.
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