Shem Oirere

Shem Oirere

Contributing Editor reporting from Nairobi, Kenya

Shem Oirere is a Kenyan journalist who previously worked for daily newspapers as a general news correspondent, business reporter and sub-editor before turning to full-time freelancing. For the more than 20 years, he has covered various sectors of Africa’s economy including agriculture, food processing, and maritime industries. A graduate of the University of South Africa, he has traveled within and outside Africa covering various industry events that have a bearing on the continent’s economy on behalf of different international consumer and trade publications. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.


Author Archive

Published on
December 19, 2024

Fish stocks in Africa’s Lake Kariba, which include tilapia, bream, catfish, and more, currently suffer from overfishing and increasing pressures from climate change.

To alleviate the pressing issue, Zambia and Zimbabwe need to harmonize their respective policies on managing the lake’s fishery and push for more aquaculture operations to ease the strain currently placed on wild stocks, according to Zimbabwe Director of Fisheries and

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Published on
December 13, 2024

The potential of Morocco’s aquaculture industry has attracted the attention of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), which recently organized a training session in Fes, Morocco, where it hosted fish farmers and possible investors in the sector and espoused the benefits of producing tilapia in the North African country using U.S. feed ingredients.

The USGC – a Washington, D.C., U.S.A.-based nonprofit that aims to develop export markets for

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Published on
December 10, 2024
South Africa’s High Court recently upheld a decision to open up the country's lucrative squid fishery to 15 fishing cooperatives and 600 individual small-scale fishers, ending a multi-year legal battle carried out by the commercial fishing sector, which attempted to stop the move. In 2021, former South Africa Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy announced plans to award 15 percent of the nation’s chokka squid quota to the small-scale sector,… Read More
Published on
December 2, 2024
Ghana-based tilapia-farming firm Tropo Farms has received USD 10 million (EUR 9.3 million) from U.K. agribusiness investor AgDevCo to support the firm’s expansion plans. AgDevCo, which specifically invests in African agriculture and aquaculture projects, signed the long-term investment with Tropo Farms at the end of October, providing the backing needed for the fish producer to get new projects underway, including an expansion of its… Read More
Published on
November 25, 2024

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Fisheries Company (SFC) has created a new aquaculture company, betting that a government goal to increase fish-farming output along the country's 2,600-kilometer coastline will pan out.

In early October, Saudi Fisheries’ board of directors approved the establishment of a new aquaculture affiliate firm that will be wholly owned by SFC and have starting capital of SAR 100,000 (USD 26,600, EUR 24,500).

The

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Published on
November 20, 2024

Climate change is decimating the stocks of small pelagic fish in Ghana and putting the livelihoods of more than 100,000 fishers, as well as 2 million others working up and down the country’s seafood value chain, at risk, according to a new report.

The report, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies – a Washington, D.C., U.S.A.-based think tank – said that although shrinking fish stocks have mostly been

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Published on
November 18, 2024

Muscat, Oman-based seafood-processing firm Oman Fisheries Company has fired its chief operating officer – just 18 months after the company’s board of directors confirmed his appointment.

The board said in a recent statement to the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) that Miguel Sanchez’s last working day in the COO role will be 31 December 2024 due to what the firm deemed an “unacceptable decline” in his

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Published on
November 15, 2024

Abu Dhabi is investing in floating sea cage aquaculture to boost the United Arab Emirates’ food security and preserve and protect the nation’s marine biodiversity and ecosystems.

To spur the practice, the emirate has launched a new fish-farming project comprising six floating sea cages. The project aims to cultivate 100 metric tons (MT) of fish annually – nearly a quarter of what the country produced in 2021, which is the

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Published on
October 28, 2024

The South African National Parks (SANParks) department, a government entity responsible for conserving and overseeing South Africa's national parks, has voiced concern on the growing illegal harvesting of abalone in the country, calling for stronger collaboration between communities and the nation’s government in ending the illicit trade.

In addition to the effects the illicit trade has on the stock’s population, the increasing

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