Findings of a Market Survey on Vegetables and Fish for Mgombezi Community Aquaponics Project

Mgombezi is a community-based organization (CBO) with a membership of over 1000 members. It is based in Lunga Lunga Sub-County, a semi-arid area in Kwale County bordering river Umba. This CBO had been earmarked to benefit from a project on Aquaponics technology donated by Friends of Anglican Development Services (ADS) of Anglican Church of Kenya, in Mombasa Diocese. The project aimed at empowering the community to commercially produce vegetables and fish using aquaponics farming system to address the rampant malnutrition and food insecurity in the region while at the same time generating income for the community. In the aquaponics farming system, the water used in the fish ponds would be circulated into hydroponics system where vegetables will be grown in soilless media. However, before any production project can be undertaken, it is a requirement that a market survey has to be conducted to establish the various market dynamics and where the products would be sold, while at the same time identifying the various threats and opportunities. It is in this regard that this market survey was undertaken to collect comprehensive information on the demand, supply, pricing, and consumer preferences for vegetables and fish among the communities living in the Lunga Lunga region and its environs. The findings indicated that, in most markets there was more preference for indigenous vegetables, mainly attributed to their good taste and health-consciousness among most consumers, the elite and the elderly. The indigenous vegetables were considered organic in nature and highly valued as they were rarely subjected to pesticides. The results also indicated that vegetable marketing was a vibrant business and offered significant opportunities for growth and development in the study area. However, there was need to address the observed challenges and supply chain inefficiencies, seasonality of supplies and price fluctuations to enhance market stability and profitability.