Betty Acen Obaa is not afraid of trying something new. She has been a rice farmer, a charcoal burner, and a displaced person, and is today an entrepreneurial fish farmer in Barlwala village, northern Uganda. Recently, she discovered a new morning routine: waking up and feeding her fish.
Her fish pond is located in a wetland area along the River Ocana, which flows from River Moroto to the Upper Nile Region of northern Uganda. Mrs. Obaa lives there with her husband and four children.
The 42-year-old is responsible for coordinating the 30 members of the Barlwala Fish Pond Project. She started digging the project’s fish pond in a wetland area in 2013 with the support of the community. The pond is 50 metres long and 20 metres wide. It was completed in 2021, and 1,000 fingerlings were added to the pond.
Later, Mrs. Obaa bought 6,000 tilapia and some catfish to rear. She sold her first harvest to the communities in Otuke, Agago, and Alebtong districts, earning her 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,660 US).
Several times a year, the members of the Barlwala Fish Project harvest fish, reserving two kilograms each for domestic consumption. The group’s finance committee then charges each member 16,000 shillings ($4.25 US). As the members repay this amount, the funds are used to provide loans to group members.
Mrs. Obaa says, “Fish farming has changed my life. And group members’ lives too.” She says fish farming is better than rice farming, which most of the community was involved in, because it requires less land.
She adds that it’s also better for the environment. She participated in a training that encouraged her to stop farming in the wetland and cutting down trees for charcoal. After the training, she was given funds from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to help maintain wetlands, and decided to set up a fish pond.
The wetland is home to fish, frogs, pythons, and monitor lizards, while birds live in the trees around the wetland. The fish pond doesn’t disturb these animals, although it does attract one unsavoury character: the crocodile. Mrs. Obaa says, “At the fish pond site, we all become security officers for the safety of our fish, the income earner.” They trap crocodiles with nets of intertwined flexible wires made of hard thread commonly known as goswire.
Mrs. Obaa also protects the trees and elephant grass planted around the wetland. These help to prevent water in the wetlands from overflowing into the fish pond as well as helping filter pond water before it reaches the nearby river and lakes. A fence and strict fines deter trespassing. These preventive actions support nearby farming while safeguarding the wetland ecosystem, enhancing livelihoods and environmental resilience.
Fencing prevents people from trespassing near the fish pond, for example, to grow rice or graze animals. Fines are a deterrent for anyone who encroaches on the buffer protecting the area. A fine of 50,000 Uganda shillings ($13.30 US) and a goat are levied against anyone found to be encroaching on the buffer zone, payable to the group’s constitutional committee. One community member has already been charged with violation of this by-law in Barlwala, according to Mrs. Obaa. Farmers now plant maize, soy, and other crops in the area, but further from the wetland.
Patrick Nyanga is the district environment officer in Otuke. He says proper wetland management is taking place in Barlwala, as the wetlands are being used to benefit current and future generations. He adds that wetlands are immensely important for purifying groundwater, managing floods, sequestering (storing) carbon, and providing water for livestock and domestic use. Wetlands are also a good environment for growing raw materials for crafts and for raising fish, both of which provide income to communities.
Beatrice Ayuru is the director of Lira City Integrated Schools, which has 17 fish ponds. Mrs. Ayuru says the fish ponds are not only a learning opportunity for her students, but improve general nutrition. Students eat fish twice a week, and she says she can already see the difference in her students’ health. Mrs. Ayuru adds, “What is coming out of our ponds now is inspiring our students to work on the fish farm.”
According to former District Fisheries Officer, Peter Orwomo, Lira has good potential for aquaculture due to ample wetlands, both permanent and seasonal. Aquaculture is widely practiced in the district. There are about 230 fish ponds in Lira, although most were abandoned during the insurgency of the early 2000s and are being rejuvenated just in the last decade or so.
Photo :This photo show farmers working in the fish pond. This took place recently at Orwoma village,Agege parish Loro sub county Kole district, Uganda.
