Company ProfileKariba Harvest Limited

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Kariba Harvest Limited (KHL) is part of the Lake Harvest Group which specialises in the production of fresh fish and associated products for local and international markets. The group has operations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, and Malawi. KHL was established in 2012 and operates a fish farm on Lake Kariba in Siavonga, supplying the Zambian market. The company currently has 44 cages across 2 sites with 3 other sites available for future expansion. Whilst KHL has the capacity to harvest 2,000 tons of fresh tilapia per annum it is currently operating below capacity (1,200MT).

 KHL currently works with just 17 smallholder farmers (SHF), some of whom operate as individuals and others within cooperatives.  These are mostly cage farmers in the area surrounding Siavonga, though a few are pond farmers in the Lusaka area. KHL has informal purchase agreements in place with these farmers, offering them advisory support and doing harvesting and transport on their behalf.

Project Description

With support from the EZCF, Kariba Harvest Limited proposes to;

1. Integrate 800 smallholder fish farmers into its supply chain: 400 cage farmers and 400 pond farmers. These will mainly be around the Siavonga facility but also in some parts of Lusaka and Copperbelt where the company has linkages. e.g through Musika.
2. Facilitate access to finance for SHF through ZANACO and the Zambia Aquaculture Enterprise Development Programme (ZAEDP).
3. Formalise its approach to engaging with smallholder farmers, establishing offtake agreements, ensuring access to improved fingerlings and feed, training on good husbandry practices and providing extension and logistics support.
4. Pilot Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) production to reduce the cost of feed, improve nutrient uptake, and deal with waste from fish mortalities.

Marketing, impact on people and the environment;

KHL currently only supplies the Zambian market but sees potential to increase sales across the region once its supply has stabilised, leveraging the strength of the group in marketing and distribution. This would reduce reliance on the high price sensitive Zambian market and reduce exposure to currency fluctuations.

The company employs 44 people having let go 33 due to reduced operations. KHL currently works with around 17 smallholder famer suppliers, a mixture of coop members and individual farmers doing both cage and pond farming.

The company’s production practices have some indirect and/or unintentional positive impacts. For example, they don’t use any antibiotics but manage fish health and disease prevention through good husbandry practices. They double net their cages to prevent escapees from affecting the local fish population. They are strict on biosecurity and cleaning procedures and don’t use any chemicals other than disinfectants. They also use floating feed which reduces waste.