Caged fish value chain improvements creating better outcomes for farmers in Lake Victoria, Kenya

31 January 2019

Rosemary Akinyi Wanasunia, an Agribusiness short course participant in 2017, is a County Program Coordinator at the Agricultural Sector Development Support Program in Kenya.

The team conducted a rapid value chain analysis by interviewing 25 chain actors in Kisumu and Siaya County on the shore of Lake Victoria. The interviews involved ten consumers in a focus group discussion and two through shopper observation; two input suppliers; four producers; three wholesalers; one transporter and four retailers.

Rosemary’s project had three objectives:

Improving the market orientation of caged fish value chains by conducting consumer research and establishing the drivers of value creation
Investigate the relationships between chain actors, and their ability to gather, share and utilise information.
Make evidence-based recommendations to improve the competitiveness of chain actors by improving value creation and efficiency.

“The course gave us a lot of insight into the challenges that are affecting the agricultural value chains. When I came back to Kenya I was able to capacity build my colleagues whom I am working with to drive this process," said Rosemary.

"I am so grateful to the Australian Government, DFAT, The University of Queensland and Australia Awards – Africa for this opportunity they gave us. The relationships we have created inside Africa and outside Africa, we are still benefitting from them. I think it is something that we are going to benefit from up until the time we will be able to say we have developed a very stable fish value chain that the Australian Government and the Professors that taught us are proud about.”