Fishing Farmers or Farming Fishermen? The Quest for Household Income and Nutritional Security on the Kenyan Shores of Lake Victoria
Author(s)
Geheb, Kim; Binnis, Tony
Abstract
Considers the changing relationship between fishing and farming in providing subsistence and household income among the Luo people on the shore of the Kenyan sector of Lake Victoria. In the 1980’s, the Nile perch “boom” years, growing demand for fish led to an expansion of income-generating fishing at the expense of farming. By the 1990’s, however, the economic and ecological problems associated with over-fishing and decline in fish species led to pressure on resources and a return to farming, but plot fragmentation, drought, and low investment meant crop yields remained low.
