Fish famers in Maracha District have been challenged to form a cooperative for them to have a strong voice and also access financial and non-financial support from government and other entities.

Maracha District Chairperson, Hon. Stephen Obitre told the farmers in an interface on the Aquaculture Census 2025 on May 13, unless they come together accessing funding, which was the key bottleneck they pointed out in attempting to scale-up, will be an uphill task.

Hon. Obitre said the challenge of unsatisfactory extension services could be best addressed with the ongoing recruitment of an additional fisheries officer and increased supervision of the fisheries sub-sector by the district political leadership he heads.

Hon. Obitre counseled the farmers to use the Parish Development Model (PDM) to inject extra funding into their enterprises and pledged to help those who are yet to access program monies as other funding options are also explored.

He implored the fish famers to keep up with their fishing enterprises observing that fish farming is not demanding in addition easy to manage alongside other income generating activities.

Maracha District has close to 100 fish farmers.

Mr. Patrick Inaku, a renowned model fish farmer in Maracha District challenged colleague fish farmers to be aggressive and ambitious in growing their enterprises since in National Development Plan (NDPIV) government has earmarked the fisheries sector one of the leap growth sectors.

Inaku said the district had done a lot in growing the sub-sector as evidenced by the recognition in different national platforms, therefore the farmers should appreciate efforts that have been undertaken amidst several challenges.

In a bid to raise to the spirits of the fish farmers who expressed the desire to leave the enterprise due to hurdles, he said they should not be discouraged when burdened with losses, but rather exercise patience and embark on the quest for knowledge to overcome the challenges holding them back from moving forward.

Inaku observed that the farmers he has interacted with have interest in fishing farm therefore the district should do more lobbying for them to realize their potential.

Mr. Simon Onzoga, a fish farmer said the fish feeds market is laden with substandard feeds which inhibit them from investing more in their enterprises due to the poor fish harvest at the end of the season.

Mr. Pius Candia, another farmer said some of the fingerlings are of poor quality which drains their little resource, as wayward,  he advised a supplier be contracted with in West Nile for them to get fingerlings that are acclimated to the climate in the region.

In response, the Senior Fisheries Officer, Mr. Caesar Draman said starting in the coming financial year 2025/26, Inaku had been awarded to the contract to supply the fingerlings to farmers in the district, after successful meeting all the conditions for certification.

Maracha Assistant Resident District Commissioner, Mr. Collins Dramani challenged the farmers to embark on visits to other farmers to widen their knowledge but to also get inspiration on how to grow their ventures.

Dramani said the farmers should not fear to approach the Office of RDC for any help and escalation of their issues to other stakeholders.

Maracha Deputy RDC, Ms. Monica Kotevu Koliba encouraged the farmers to adopt better practices of enterprise management after her visits to some of the farms revealed poor handling of the ponds which is a threat to the fish life and output. 

“Why don’t we put a lot of energy, family energy, our own energy into doing this work? Sometimes you can see some work is very difficult but if you give yourself two or three hours physically you would have finished the work,” she said.

She advised the farmers to develop health competition among themselves instead of fighting colleagues who are prospering, a practice she described as backward and raises uncalled for security alarms.

“When anyone of you is performing, doing better than the other, the following day you say someone has witchcraft, thereafter you call RDC to go and handle a case of witchcraft. I go to handle issues whose background I don’t understand,” she noted.   

On a positive note, she commended the fish farmers for practicing mixed farming by planting viable cash crops on their farms.

Mr. Godfrey Odama, a biostatistician with Maracha District Local Government, who after briefing the farmers on the Aquaculture Census questionnaire, told them to embrace the idea of having regular engagements even without allowances because they stand to benefit immensely through experience sharing and building impactful synergies.