RUMONGE, January 20th (ABP) – Fly farming is an effective and easy way to have rich and less expensive food, not only for fish but also for chickens and pigs, Mrs. Émilienne Ngendakuriyo, aged 61 and mother of ten children, a farmer residing in Nyagasaka village, Mpanda sub-village in the Buruhukiro County of Rumonge district and province.
Mrs. Ngendakuriyo said she started aquaculture in 1990 under the supervision of technicians from PIA-RUBUBU, an agricultural intensification project in the districts of Rumonge, Burambi and Buyengero where she was a facilitator.
According to her, it was advantageous for her to practice aquaculture because she lives in a place where water is nearby. This reason thus pushed her to develop the ponds for fish, and, in doing so, benefited from the tilapia species from the PIA-RUBUBU project.
She used rice bran to feed them as well as oilcakes processed using palm nuts as she said, deploring that the cost was enormous, hence she recorded losses and difficulties in the practice of this livestock.
However, she did not lose courage despite this challenge, she specified, being delighted that she positively influenced those around her who ended up following suit and as a result, diseases related to malnutrition, she said, are no longer spoken of in their locality.
In addition, she underscored that she managed to provide for her family’s needs through aquaculture. But, until 2022, the types of fish benefited were disappearing due to the problem of inbreeding, thus generating low yield.
The situation changed, according to her, after the visit by the NGO ZOA which agreed to support her to restart her project. She participated in study trips and seminars organized by the same organization in order to learn how to promote fly farming in order to have easily and cheaply, food for fish, chickens and pigs. She finally benefited from this organization, new species of fish which, according to her, give a good yield despite the lack of equipment necessary to prepare fish food, namely large pots and tents.