The government has rolled out a plan to enroll 5,000 youths to take over jobs held by foreign nationals in the country.
Speaking over the weekend, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya noted that Kenyan locals were not well equipped in deep fishing hence the country relied heavily on foreigners.
To rectify the situation, the CS noted that the Ministry was targeting to train 5,000 youth in a span of five years to take over the industry.
The training will take place at Bandari Maritime Academy and is expected to churn out 1,000 professionals every year.
Fishermen offloading their catch in Kisumu.
File “We have so far trained 186 fishers in deep-sea fishing, most of whom are youth aged 35-years and below,” stated Munya.
He confirmed that the country, currently, lacks professionals with skills in navigation, engineering, fishing and food handling among others.
He also noted that the country had outsourced personnel from Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Namibia, Sierra Leone and other countries.
“The country has insufficient local fishers with skills in navigation, engineering, fishing, food handling and processing, quality control as well as health and food safety in the marine fisheries,” added Munya.
Munya explained that the new government move was aimed at developing a robust fishing industry under the Blue Economy programme.
He was speaking during a tour of the Liwatoni Fisheries Complex currently under construction.
The new trainees will be expected to offer specialised manpower to the fishing fleet that will be unveiled by the state.
The team will also secure employment on foreign vessels that are licensed to carry out fishing activities on Kenyan lakes.
Revenue in the Kenyan fishing industry is estimated to be Ksh400 billion every year.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya speaks at the National Agriculture Summit at Safari Park Hotel on Wednesday, February 26, 2020
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