Fish Farming

First of all, this group has helped me a lot. When we sold our fish produce, I used the money to build a toilet at home. In the second phase, I bought improved maize and sunflower seeds, which I planted on my farm. So I’m really benefiting from this project.

In the past, it was hard to find fresh fish here in the mountains, but now they are available. We thank the Eastern Arc Mountains Fund, because now we can eat fresh, big fish ourselves—not just see their pictures, as people used to tease us Pare by saying we only saw fish in pictures.

I bought 40 chicks and I’m still raising them at home—they’re almost ready to sell. I thank the project’s donors through the Eastern Arc Mountains Fund for helping us identify and implement this fish farming project.

We’ve even reached others who want similar projects and we’ve trained them on how to dig fishponds. I’m thankful for the support from Eastern Arc; I’ve learned a lot, including how to make fish feed. Now I can even dig my own pond at home and raise fish myself.

The fish farming project funded by the Eastern Arc Mountains Conservation Endowment Fund has benefited me greatly. Since the project began, I’ve been able to feed my family with fish as a source of protein, and I’ve also earned an income that allowed me to pay school fees for my children. With the money I earned, I bought chicks to raise.

My children used to attend public schools, but now I’ve transferred them to private schools. I used to buy cooking oil by the spoonful, but now, thanks to this fish project, I can buy a 5-liter container. I’m truly grateful to our donors from the Eastern Arc for bringing this project to our village.

In the past, I used to sneak into the forest to hunt for meat. Now I get legal and easily accessible protein from my fishpond. I’ve managed to educate my two children with the income from selling fish. I’ve also started a business selling petrol and vegetables. Fish farming has significantly reduced the destruction of the Kilombero Forest – there’s no more need to hunt or burn the forest. This is a project that transforms lives and protects the environment.

I started fish farming in 2021. From the profits, I’ve been able to farm maize, open a shop, buy a motorcycle, and travel to Arusha to collect strawberry seedlings. I’ve also established a large avocado nursery. In the past, my wife struggled to find vegetables, but now I easily get protein from the fishpond. Farming has also become easier because I can now hire laborers using the profits from fish farming.

Through this fish farming project, last year I sold fish and managed to buy a motorcycle worth TZS 2.8 million and opened a shop worth TZS 1.3 million. This year, I’ve bought 16 beehives. This project has benefited us economically, environmentally, and socially – now we harvest fish twice a year and even support neighboring communities with food and education. When we started, we had only one pond. Today, we have 26 ponds managed by the group, and each member has their pond. After seeing the benefits, even people outside the group have started digging ponds – now we have a total of 39 ponds in the village and over 40,000 fingerlings. We secured a TZS 6 million loan from the district council, repaid it on time, and now we lend to other fish farmers at low interest rates – so they stop cutting down trees and start fish farming instead.