85% fish farmers quit aquaculture due to expensive feeds and drought

In River Pager, locals communally harvest catfish during dry season.
Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Eighty-five percent of fish farmers in Kitgum District have abandoned their fishponds in recent seasons, as the high cost of commercial fish feed and prolonged heat make aquaculture economically unviable.
Alfred Omony, the Kitgum District Fisheries Officer, told Uganda Radio Network (URN) that the escalating cost of fish feed is one of the main reasons many farmers have stopped stocking and managing their ponds.
Records from the district fisheries department show that although more than 80 fish farmers are registered in Kitgum, only 15 are currently active.
A kilogramme of high-quality fish feed now costs about 4,500 shillings, while low-quality feed goes for 3,500 shillings. Omony explained that although many farmers opt for cheaper, low-quality feed, it takes fish much longer to mature, and they often end up stunted.
Sarah Aber, a fish farmer who started the business in May 2025 with 5,000 fingerlings, said manufactured fish feed is expensive largely because it is not locally produced, accounting for up to 70 percent of production costs. “A 20-kilogramme bag of feed, the basic ingredient for raising tilapia and catfish, costs 80,000 shillings and is consumed quickly in multiple ponds,” Aber said.Sisto Okwera, a fish farmer of 15 years from Ginnery West in Kitgum Municipality, said erratic weather patterns have further disrupted aquaculture in the district. According to Okwera, water levels in his ponds recede significantly during the dry season, forcing him out of production.
“The ponds dry up in February and March, and one has to pump water fromthe  Pager River into the pond. So every dry season, I leave the ponds and rehabilitate them in the rainy season,” Okwera said. Okwera appealed to the government to reduce the cost of fish feed or support farmers with skills to produce feed locally.
Kitgum District has acquired two fish feed pellet-making machines to help farmers produce their own feed. However, Okwera said farmers lack the technical skills to mix feed to the required nutritional standards. “In Kitgum, we have a fish feed pellet making machine, but we have not got the training on how to mix feeds,” Okwera said.
The high cost of fish feed, coupled with climate change, has caused demand for fresh fish in Kitgum Municipality to increasingly outstrip local supply. As a result, traders and consumers are forced to source fish from outside the district at higher prices. Fishmongers in Kitgum now charge between 15,000 and 20,000 shillings per kilogramme of fresh tilapia and catfish, driven by reliance on costly deliveries from Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga.
In its December 2025 report, the Kitgum District Committee on Production, Marketing, Trade, Industry, Local Economic Development, and Natural Resources urged the fisheries department to organise farmers into groups to access the central government’s 20 percent co-funding support, promote tree planting to mitigate climate change, and strengthen sensitisation on fish farming management skills.
****
URN