In efforts to sustain his family after retirement, and address food security, a retired defense force officer, has ventured into fish farming.
Retired PNGDF officer, Murphy Memafu Kila, built a fish pond, with over 500 fish.
According to Kila, this is the biggest fish pond in the southern region, and there are plans for more development on his fish farming project.
The fish farm is located at Taurama outside the nation’s capital of Port Moresby.
The retired officer, farms over 1000 Tilapia, in two big ponds, together with some eels in a smaller pond.
He says this initiative keeps him busy after retiring for the defense force.
Kila’s interest to go into sustainable fish farming comes after witnessing his colleagues, faced with the challenge of living a normal life after retirement.
With his retirement savings, he purchased a piece of land, to build this fish pond.
And with technical support from the National Fisheries Authority, fish were brought in from Sirinumu Dam in Central province, together with some fish feed.
After months of breeding, over 400 fish are now mature and ready for harvest.
According to Kila, this is the largest fish farm in the Southern Region of Papua New Guinea.
In an effort to keep unemployed youths off the streets, Kila has also employed youths from the area at the farm.
And with the little he has, he is paying them K10 per day to work at the fish farm.
However, he is faced with funding challenges.
With the fish now ready for harvest, his other challenge now is to look for markets.
Kila says, there are shops in the nation’s capital, which have shown interest to buy his fish.
With the revenue raised from the fish farm, the fish farmer is planning to expand his fish farm, to cater for livestock as well.
By Rayon Lakingu – EMTV News – Port Moresby
