The soil in Kenya is very poor and not good for farming because of a severe drought. The Kenyan government is pushing small farmers to turn to fish farming to earn money. The drought has also stalled the efforts of earning money through fish farming. The ponds are drying up and killing the fish. Farmers have to harvest the fish earlier and earlier because otherwise the harvest would be lost. The fish are smaller than desired because of having to harvest them earlier. The desired size, which makes the most money, is 250 grams, but they are less than 100 grams. The drought is causing more than 12 million people to turn to emergency food. Farmers do not want to rely on fish farming because it does not have much profit for them right now. All the fish in Lake Victoria are all gone because they have been harvested. People are having ponds dug in their back yards in hopes of having successful harvests to make enough money to support themselves and their families.
This is a social problem because thousands of Kenyans are not making enough money to support their families and themselves causing them to go into poverty. If they had successful harvests then they could send their kids to school, buy food, and buy materials needed for more harvests. The government and a non-governmental organization recognize this as a social problem and is trying to help solve the problem. Farm-Africa, a non-governmental organization based in the UK, was founded in 1985 to help farmers, pastoralists, and forest communities in eastern Africa. They are funding a 2 year project to help small-scale fish farmers. They are going to supply fish farmers with the supplies for farming, training, and link them to markets. Solving the problem would help boost the Kenyan economy and bring people out of poverty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/sep/01/kenya-small-scale-fish-farming
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