Meet Royd Mukonda, man at the helm of Mukasa Fish Farm and Agrosolutions
UNLIKE most children in his neighborhood, he started primary school at the age of 15 because his parents had no money to pay for his school fees.
His hopes of going to school someday seemed far-fetched until the day he met Norbert Mwila, the head teacher at Saint Paul's Primary school in 2000.
Mr. Mwila met Royd Mukunda in the neighborhood and out of curiosity asked what grade he was doing and his response was “I don’t go to school because my parents have no money to take me to school”.
He then asked him to write ABCD on the ground, which he did and that was his entry into grade one at Saint Paul’s primary school.
From the onset Royd took school seriously and because of his hard work and discipline managed to jump a number of grades in primary school.
Within the period of four years, he made it to junior and later senior secondary school at Saint Paul's Boys Secondary School.
While in school and having been brought up in a community that is dependent on fishing as the only source of income, Royd developed a desire to become an aquaculturist.
He started naturing his dream of becoming an aquaculturist during his secondary school days and this motivated him to join the Jets club.
“I joined the jets club while in school and did a lot of agriculture projects which won me a lot of certificates at the Jets Fair that i attended, this exposure gave me a desire to do more in the agriculture industry,” he said.
His desire to become an aquaculturist kept growing until he started working for a commercial farm as a casual worker and his hard work impressed the owner of the farm and earned him a full-time job.
After saving some money, he enrolled for a certificate in general agriculture while working and later rose to the position of supervisor and crops manager until he was put in charge of the farm.
I worked for six years and gained knowledge in crop and livestock breeding and when the ministry of agriculture, fisheries, and livestock was split, I took the opportunity to study aquaculture because it sounded promising, he said.
He enrolled for a degree program in aquaculture at the Copperbelt University and after graduating was employed by Mpende fisheries in Kaputa district in Luapula province as a
registry clerk and rose to the position of the farm manager.
It was at Mpende fisheries where I did a lot of research in aquaculture in order to understand fish.
After realizing that there was a serious knowledge gap in aquaculture, I decided to call for training at my farm in Kapiri Mposhi rural which attracted a lot of people including those from said.
It was at this point that Mukasa Fish farm and Agrosolutions was born in June 2017 and has since then been growing steadily.
Mukasa Fish Farm and Agrosolutions is currently the only breeder of the Catfish commonly known as Mulamba or Milonge and has produced fingerlings for about a year.
The farm located opposite St Paul's Boys Secondary School along the Mulungushi river also breeds Tilapia and has been producing fish for the past five years.
Royd who is director of Makasa Fish Outgrower Solutions says aquaculture has the potential to change the face of the country because of its abunoutside the country, he
dant water bodies.
He says communities that are surrounded by water are sitting on gold as it were and should therefore grab the opportunity and venture into aquaculture.
The project is already adding nutritional value to the community which has about 90 percent of female-headed households.
He said the fish farm has a clientele in the country among them capital fisheries among others and have clients in Kasumbalesa town in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We are the main suppliers of Tilapia and fingerlings, we breed catfish and we are the only ones producing and supplying catfish in the country,” he said.
Musika has invested about 38, 250 dollars in the Mukasa fish farm out-grower scheme for the construction of three fish cages with a capacity of about 51, 900 fingerlings under the Making Agricultural Markets Work Project.
Musika would provide fingerlings for the three cages that have been constructed with the capacity of 17 300 fingerlings each enough to feed the entire
community and the surrounding areas.
About 18 farmers would benefit from the project which would ultimately improve nutrition among households especially those that are headed by women.
Musika project manager agricultural markets and nutrition, Jonathan Mwewa said the project is aimed at addressing
the nutrition challenges in the community.
He said access to nutritious food has been a challenge for the people in the community after the depletion of fish in the Mulungushi river which has for many years been its only source of fish.
“Our aim is to improve nutrition in the rural communities because malnutrition is rife in rural areas so the project aims to address malnutrition challenges and 18 farmers would be supported,
Mr. Mwewa is optimistic that the out-grower scheme would be replicated to other parts of the country which water bodies in order to bridge the gap in the country’s fish deficit which is currently at about 89 000 metric tons.
Speaking in Kapiri Mposhi district during the launch of the Mukasa Fish Outgrower and Nutrition Intervention, Central province minister, Sydney Mushanga reiterated the government’s commitment to promoting the aquaculture Industry.
Mr. Mushanga who has also ventured into fish farming said aquaculture has the potential to stimulate the country's economy as it was a wealth spinner.
The minister urged farmers
in the country to take fish farming seriously by applying for the Aquaculture Seed Fund to create employment and reduce poverty in their communities and the country at large.
The government attaches great importance to the fish and livestock industry and because of this importance, the government has made the ministry stand-alone from the ministry is agriculture," he said.