Sustainable Food Laboratory

Project Coordinator: Mr. René Segbenou

1.    The origin of the project

The Nile Perch brought into the Lake Victoria in the second half of the 1950s, has generated economic activities, which, today, touch directly and indirectly a population of approximately 30 millions. Unfortunately the majority of these people living around the Lake is not profiting from the exploitation of this fish.

In 2005, a film named “Darwin Nightmare” directed by Hubert Sauper, raised the awareness of millions of Europeans on the social, economic and environmental crisis around and in the Victoria Lake. The present project originated in this awareness, when the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation and Carrefour jointly sent a mission around the Lake. The purpose of this mission was to go beyond the film and the emotion it raised and see what can be done to improve the living conditions of the fishing communities of the region, taking into account the reality on the ground. The mission described the situation as follows:

Among the eight main actors in the Nile Perch production chain, two are in a fragile situation: the Nile Perch itself and the fisherman. The present conditions of the Nile Perch exploitation lead as a whole to the risk of exhaustion of the resource. More over, with the persisting draught since two years, the level of water in the lake has diminished of more than a meter, leading the perch off, and depriving certain zones from access to the resource, whereas fishing is the main economic activity of more than 250 000 people. The present captures are between 220 000 and 228 000 tons a year for a total resource estimated at 540 000 tons for the 3 countries. The yearly extraction would reach more than 40% of the resources for a sexual maturity cycle of two years and a half. This is at the limit of over fishing.

Despite the above situation of the resource, the Nile Perch industry continues to attract populations from the hinterland, while the resource is diminishing. As a result the living conditions of the populations around the lake are declining: insufficient social infrastructures (schools, dispensaries); very high HIV/AIDS prevalence, particularly on the islands, where the infection rate raises from 30% (around the lake) to 60 and 70% and the majority of the people are living under the poverty line.

To summarise, we are facing four main issues:

• The fish resource is in a constant diminution, while more and more people are leaving agriculture and other economic activities in the hinterland for fishing in the Lake.
• The whole ecosystem is in danger not only because of the current fishing practices, but also because of the deforestation which is going on in the immediate environment of the Lake.
• The big majority of the growing populations around the Lake are not profiting from the flourishing Nile Perch industry in the region: weak access to clean water, school, health and healthy housing.
• Weak organisation of the fishermen and women engaged in fishing as well as fish processing activities.

In line with the above described situation, at least four major challenges have to be taken up:

• Establish a sustainable management of the fish resources, 
• Stop the growing degradation of the ecosystem,
• Create the conditions for a more equitable access to the profit generated by the exploitation of the Nile Perch.
• Create a fishermen community movement around the Lake in order to advocate for better fishing conditions and to engage policy dialogue with the key development actors in the region.

2.    Objectives of the project

The present project aims at building the capacities of the local actors:

• to improve or start viable economic activities: animal husbandry, agriculture and organics vegetable production, fish farming (aquaculture);
• to organise themselves with a view to become a negotiating power in front of the other stakeholders, to influence the decision making process in any matter pertaining their life (price, fishing policy and method, access to social infrastructures, etc.).

Taking into account the existing efforts, our vision is to have, in a maximum of 10 years, fishermen and women community based organisations proud of their status and capable of initiating and conducting viable economic activities, using the available resources in a sustainable manner, for the improvement of their living conditions.

The following specific objectives will help design concrete activities:

• Initiate and implement short term activities like animal rearing and fish farming in Tanzania and Uganda; in Kenya the accent will put on local fish processing.
• Use the short term activities to analyse the present situation of the ecosystem of the Lake and the ongoing social process and decide on the type of organisation to put in place for middle and long term programmes.
• Help the local communities elaborate, implement and monitor their plan of action and negotiate partnership with development actors at the national as well as international levels.
• Help NGOs and communities involved in the project in each country share, at the regional level, the results of the situation analysis and the plan of action.
• Help all the stakeholders of the programme develop intensive communication among themselves and with all the partners

3.    Target groups

Lake Victoria is shared by three countries: Uganda (40%), Tanzania (54%) and Kenya (6%). All the activities will be based on the existing efforts and will be designed, organised and implemented in closed collaboration with fishermen and fish processors (mainly women) associations, and selected NGOs working with grass roots organisations in each of these countries. To start we have: Katosi Women Development and Fishing Trust – KWDT (Mukeno district) in Uganda; Environmental Management and Economic Development Organisation (EMEDO), Reviving Environment Organisation (REO, Ukerewe Island), FAPOEL and Partage in Tanzania; Kenya National Fish folk Association (Kisumu) in Kenya.

4.    Project activities

The following activities are foreseen for the three coming years:

• Three aquaculture projects (two in Tanzania, Ukerewe and Bukoba, and one in Uganda, Katosi);
• Animal husbandry projects in Katosi and Katebo in Uganda, and in Ukerewe in Tanzania;
• Establishing a revolving funds to support saving and credit activities in Katosi and in Katebo;
• Advocacy and lobbying activities to raise awareness on the situation of the fisher folk around the Lake and to influence the decision making process in all the three countries, in collaboration with the other development actors;
• Environmental Education Programme in 5 primary schools in Ukerewe Island
• Improvement of the local fish processing plants in the Kisumu region (Kenya), at least 3 plants in three years (investment, organisation and training of the women groups for the use of the plants).

All these projects will have three components: investment, training / capacity building and networking to establish a permanent exchange mechanism between all the professional organisations in each country and in the region.