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Title: | 'Fishing Farmers' or 'Farming Fishermen'? The Quest for Household Income and Nutritional Security on the Kenyan Shores of Lake Victoria |
Authors: | Geheb, Kim Binns, Tony |
Year: | 1997 |
Periodical: | African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society |
Volume: | 96 |
Issue: | 382 |
Period: | January |
Pages: | 73-93 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Kenya |
Subjects: | Luo arable farming inland fisheries Economics and Trade Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Labor and Employment Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/723751 |
Abstract: | This paper considers the relationships between fishing and farming in providing household income and nutritional security among Luo communities on the shores of the Kenyan sector of Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria produces 85 percent of Kenya's fish supply, a catch valued at approximately 80 million US dollars in 1994. While western Kenya also contributes significantly to national sugar cane and tea production, many of the region's food production systems are geared primarily towards satisfying local nutritional needs rather than generating large cash incomes. For many households who live by the lake, fishing and farming have become inextricably linked over many generations. In recent years the resources of Lake Victoria have come under severe pressure due to a variety of economic and ecological factors associated with overfishing and a significant decline in fish species. Farming has increased in importance as households attempt to meet subsistence needs, but plot fragmentation, drought and low investment have led to poor crop yields. Future development strategies need to enhance the sustainability of the resources of both lake and land, and possibly build upon traditional management methods and institutions. Notes, ref., sum. |