Rwanda’s Kivu Choice rolls out large-scale fish cages on Lake Kivu

RWANDA – Kivu Choice, a leading fish farming company in Rwanda, has introduced the country’s first 30-metre-wide fish cages on Lake Kivu in Nyamasheke District.

The new infrastructure, consisting of 12 cages, was unveiled during a launch event held at the company’s farm in Kagano Sector, where stakeholders from government, research institutions, and local communities were in attendance.

Each of the large cages is designed to produce 350 tonnes of tilapia per year, and together they are expected to yield around 4,000 tonnes annually.

This new output nearly matches Rwanda’s total aquaculture production reported in 2021.

According to the company’s founder and CEO, Kamran Ahmad, the farm currently produces 5,000 tonnes per year, with expansion efforts aimed at reaching 20,000 tonnes by the end of 2026.

Ahmad noted that the long-term objective is to achieve an annual production capacity of 30,000 tonnes, which would rank the company among the world’s largest tilapia farms.

Scaling production and employment

With the expansion of cage farming, Kivu Choice plans to create 1,000 full-time jobs as part of its wider growth strategy.

The company already manages three water concessions on Lake Kivu and has submitted five additional sites to the Rwanda Water Resources Board for approval through the Ministry of Agriculture.

Each water concession spans 15 hectares, and with eight in total, the company estimates it will meet the 30,000-tonne production goal.

Six more sets of 30-metre cages are scheduled to be installed in Kagano over the next two years.

Construction of a second hatchery is planned to begin in June, which will be 1.5 times larger than the Kigembe hatchery—currently the biggest in Africa.

Ahmad also revealed that Kivu Choice has developed a fingerling transport system capable of carrying 500,000 fingerlings in one trip.

The system, which reduces transport costs by 75%, will support stocking up to 10,000 tonnes of fish annually.

In addition, the company is working on automating its fish processing operations to improve efficiency.

Plans are also underway to implement a feed blower system—the first of its kind on the continent—to distribute fish feed mechanically at large scale.

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