Yalelo Uganda, PSFU forge alliance to create more employment opportunities in the fishing sector
UGANDA – YALELO, a fishery agency, is collaborating with the Private Sector Foundation (PSFU) to empower about 7000 women and youth between the age of 28-35 with employment opportunities.
This announcement was made by Michael Tumusiime, YALELO’s marketing officer during the last day of the 7th edition of the Harvest Money 2023 expo which ran from Feb 10th to Feb 12th.
He communicated that the three-year project will target people from the districts of Kampala, Wakiso and Jinja, saying that people below 30 years make up 78% of the country’s population and that stakeholders in the fishing industry should help deal with unemployment in the nation.
According to data from the Economic Policy Research Centre, the Ugandan fisheries sub-sector already employs 1.7 million people directly, and over 3.5 million people indirectly. Therefore, over 5 million jobs are created by the sub-sector.
With enhanced production and productivity, and increased value addition, the sector could provide even more employment creation opportunities.
According to data from AkokoInsight, in 2018/2019 the fishing industry contributed US$703.7 million to the country’s economy, representing close to 1.5% of GDP.
Between 85% and 90% of domestic supply is sourced from the country’s lakes while aquaculture makes up the remainder with capture fishing being the predominant source of fish.
The major species caught in these lakes are tilapia, Nile perch and mukene with tilapia and Nile perch being exported to non-African markets and mukene(small fish) traded within the EAC region and consumed domestically as well.
Small-scale fish farmers dominate the fishing industry in Uganda from which commercial processors consolidate catch to process for local consumption and exportation.
It is estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million Ugandans work directly in capture fisheries, with another 5,000 people engaged in the industrial processing fisheries sector.
According to the National Agricultural advisory services (NAAD), Uganda produces up to 15,000 tonnes of fish from aquaculture, including production from small-scale fish farmers, emerging commercial fish farmers and stocked community water reservoirs and minor lakes.
There are an estimated 20,000 ponds throughout the country with an average surface area of 500 m² per fish pond.
The Ugandan aquaculture enterprise is however still in its take-off stages despite it being practised even in pre-colonial times. This has been mainly due to the fish from natural water bodies like lakes, streams and rivers being insufficient for the rapidly growing population.
Over recent years, overfishing, destructive fishing methods and illegal fishing have also had significant impacts on fish stocks.
Around 40% of large species captured in Lake Victoria are caught prematurely, meaning they are caught before they can reproduce.
The industry is riddled with other challenges, such as pollution and invasive species. Collectively, these pressures pose dire implications for the biodiversity of freshwater and, by extension, food security, health and livelihoods in Uganda.
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