Frederick Juma: Busia Businessman Running Successful Hatchery, Fish Farm

Fredrick Juma is the founder and CEO of Hydro Victoria Fish Hatchery Farm Ltd, a social enterprise located in Busia County.

The company which runs a certified fish hatchery has majored in fish hatching, production, marketing and capacity building.

He has a number of fishponds and a hatchery where he rears tilapia and catfish which he sells to farms from different parts of the country.

Other than fish farming, Juma is also into pigs, poultry and black soldier fly farming.

Here is his story as told by WoK.

Juma ventured into fish farming in 2017 after setting up cages in Usenge Beach, Siaya County.

However, in an interview with Nation, he noted that getting fingerlings in Siaya was difficult and he had to source some from Murang’a County.

In 2018, Juma started his own fingerlings’ hatchery at a farm that he owned in Bunyala, a town in Busia County.

He hatches his own fingerlings and some that he sells to farmers in Siaya, Kakamega, Busia and Kisumu counties.

“In a month, each hatchery can produce up to 100,000 tilapia fingerlings and 10,000 catfish fingerlings,” he told Nation.

Two years since he started his hatchery, he moved his fish cages from Siaya County to his farm in Bunyala.

“In the beginning, I would up to Ksh 10,000 or more to purchase fingerlings but that is no longer the case since I have them in my hatchery,” he said.

Juma also engages in black soldier fly farming.

He started keeping black soldier flies in 2021 as an alternative feeding ingredient after the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to get fish meal.

“The poultry and the pigs have been reared for the purposes of harnessing organic waste which we use to feed the black soldier fly,” Juma added.

The proteins help in fastening the growth of fish and protects them from getting sickly.

According to his LinkedIn page, Juma holds a Bsc in Environment Science and Msc in Geospatial Information Systems and Remote Sensing.

He also holds several certificates in Advanced Aquaculture Production and Innovations.

He is a seasoned Lead Aquapreneur in Kenya and has over 12 years’ experience in Aquaculture Market System Development.

Juma has worked with international non-governmental organizations such as USAID, ACTED, OXFAM, VSF-BELGIUM, VSF-SUISSE.

He recently received several awards including Africa Food Systems Leader – Inclusive Aquaculture at Wageningen Centre for Innovations and Development.

Juma is also a member of CJLF advisory board.