Kenya has released the country’s economic survey report, indicating the country saw a 7 percent increase in fish landings and 16 percent growth in the value of its seafood sector in 2021.
Despite economic headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s total fish output reached 163,600 metric tons (MT), up from 151,300 MT in the previous year.
Freshwater fish accounted for 76.8 percent of the sector's total value in 2021, according to the report, which was released by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Director General Macdonald George Obudho. Freshwater fish catches reached 136,300 MT in 2021, up 8.5 percent, with the largest contribution sourced from major lakes of Victoria, Turkana, Naivasha, Baringo, Jipe, Kanyaboli, and Kenyatta. Other sources were Tana River and dams, Turkwell dam, riverline ecosystems, and other small dams.
The report attributed the performance to “continued optimal exploitation of fishery resources on a sustainable basis through enforcing stricter controls on fishing methods during breeding periods.”
Elsewhere, fish output from marine sources in 2021 rose by 6.2 percent to 27,300 MT from the 25,690 MT in 2020, a total that was still below the 27,638 MT landed in 2019.
Aquaculture production has also been on the increase in Kenya since 2019, reaching 20,975 MT in 2021. Total output from fish farming had risen to 18,582 MT and 19,945 MT for 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Meanwhile, total revenue generated from fish landed in Kenya in 2021 increased by 16 percent to KES 30.4 billion (USD 260 million, EUR 246 million) from the KES 26.2 billion (USD 224 million, EUR 212 million) earned in 2020.
Earnings from freshwater fish landings grew by 13.1 percent to KES 23.3 billion (USD 199 million, EUR 189 million) compared to the KES 20.6 billion (USD 176 million, EUR 167 million) in 2020.
The value of crustaceans caught in 2021 increased from KES 918.8 million (USD 7.8 million, EUR 7.4 million) to KES 1.1 billion (USD 9.5 million, EUR 9 million). However, the value of mollusks dipped to KES 558.4 million (USD 4.7 million, EUR 4.2 million) from the previous year’s KES 707.4 million (USD 6 million, EUR 5.7 million).
A similar decline was noted in marine industrial output in 2021, with an output of valued at KES 756.8 million (USD 6.4 million, EUR 6.1 million) compared to KES 794 million (USD 6.9 million, EUR 6.4 million) for 2020.
Fishing and aquaculture output in Kenya is expected to grow in the short- to medium-term as the government injects additional investment in key fisheries sectors.
Projects Kenya's government has invested in include the Kenya Aquaculture Business Development project, the Kenya Marine Fisheries and Socio-Economic Development project, a second fish-processing plant on Lamu Island, a project to update coastal fisheries infrastructure, an effort to rehabilitate and redevelop fish-landing sites on the shore of Lake Victoria, and an aquaculture technology development and innovation transfer program.
Photo courtesy of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics
