Kisumu receives a second water hyacinth harvester

The fight against water hyacinth in Lake Victoria has received a shot in the arm after India donated a harvesting machine.

The Sh40 million machine was presented to Kisumu Governor Peter Anyang' Nyong'o by the Indian High Commissioner to Kenya, Ms Namgya Khampa, at Kenya Shipyard Ltd in Kisumu.

The machine can harvest three tonnes of water hyacinth in 10 minutes.

For years the water hyacinth has been a big hindrance to lake transport and fishing.

The donation followed a meeting between Prof Nyong’o and Ms Khampa's predecessor in 2018, when the county chief made the request.

Speaking at the event, Governor Nyong'o said the water hyacinth must be fought from all fronts in order to save the lake.

"This machine has come at a time when we are grappling with an increased invasion of the lake by the stubborn hyacinth weed,” he said.

Threatened livelihoods

For the past 30 years, the weed has been slowly but steadily sucking life out of the lake, which millions of people in surrounding counties in Kenya and in Uganda and Tanzania depend on for their livelihoods.

On the Kisumu side, the lake directly supports an estimated 3,758 fisherfolk.

"We have 1,466 fishing vessels along the 41 landing sites, and over 80,000 households depend on the fisheries sector for income. The weed, however, has grossly interfered with fishing, marine transport and [the] quality of water," Prof Nyong'o said.

This will be the county’s second hyacinth harvester. The first was purchased for Sh100 million in 2015.

The older machine, which lies idle at the port of Kisumu, was purchased by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry under phase two of the Lake Victoria Environmental Project (LVEMP), funded by the government and the World Bank.

The machine is reportedly out of service because it is missing key components which have to be shipped from abroad.

The new harvester will help get rid of water hyacinth in bays, the most affected areas of the lake.

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