The spread of water hyacinth in Lake Victoria has shrunk fish supply to the point where fishmongers “can do anything” to get it. In Homa Bay, where women are reliant on men for supplies, that means trading sex for fish, an exchange locally called ‘Jaboya’.
Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and subtropical South America. With broad, thick glossy ovate leaves, it may rise above the surface of the water as much as one metre in height.
At the moment, chunks of lake waters in Homa Bay Town and Karachuonyo are infested with hyacinth. The weed has paralysed transport across Lake Victoria and rendered many beaches non-operational. Last month, a fisherman was marooned by hyacinth for three days. He lost consciousness upon rescue.
Fishmongers at Koginga beach scramble for the dwindling fish supply, which now mainly comes from the Mbita side of the lake that is still hyacinth-free. Most women now cannot afford to get enough supply of the delicacy in the lakeside town of Homa Bay.
“Fish supply has really deteriorated since the invasion of hyacinth four months ago,” Homa Bay pier market chairperson Rose Lando said.
“Most of our members nowadays do not get enough supply for sale and have been forced to engage in other businesses to ensure they meet their daily demands.” These include the sex-for-fish trade and prostitution, leading to a rise in HIV infections.
NO SEX NO FISH
Jaboya has always thrived in Homa Bay along the lake regions and major islands, but now it’s getting worse and threating efforts to counter HIV infections. The prevalence currently stands at 26 per cent.
The most affected are women, whose prevalence rate stands at 27.8 against men’s 24 per cent, according to the National Aids Control Council 2015 estimates.
Lando said some of the fishmongers are widows and single mothers, who are forced to engage in Jaboya to fend for their children. She herself is a widow.
“Imagine a situation where the only business one has been doing to take care of her children is fish selling, and the commodity at a point becomes more competitive and scarce. One can do anything to get it from the fisherman,” she said.
One such victim of circumstances is Grace Agatha* (not her real name), 32, a single mother of three living in Shauri Yako estate in Homa Bay Town.
Agatha is a fishmonger who plies her business at the Homa Bay pier market, a large fish landing site in the town.
She used to operate her business smoothly within the town, where she could meet the demand of her customers and even feed her children, pay rent and afford other basic needs.
However, as supplies dwindled the past four months, she has been forced to engage in Jaboya to meet her family and customer demands.
“It is not easy at the moment to get enough fish to meet the demands of our customers as we used to. The fishermen have become so demanding that we are forced to engage in love affairs in exchange for fish,” Agatha said.
“Those of us who do not give in to their demands no longer get fish, or get it from the fishmongers who now own the fishermen and are assured of daily fish supply. It doesn’t matter how many fishermen one sleeps with as long as one gets enough supply to feed her family and meet customer demands.”
She said some fishermen agree to use protection, while others demand sex without any protection.
EFFECTS ON LIVELIHOOD
Fish prices have almost doubled since the hyacinth sprouted at most of the boat landing sites. Lando said the fish they used to buy at Sh200 now goes for around Sh350.
“Some of us have been forced to start new businesses, though it is a hard task. It is better to continue with the one you have been doing,” she said.
“We usually depend on fish supply from a beach called Ndhuru in Karachuonyo. But since all the beaches have been closed now, we depend on fish supply from Mbita constituency. Even though it has not affected by the menace, it is not enough.”
She doubted fishmongers will able to pay school fees for their children come January, saying most of them only depend on the business.
“I am taking care of 18 children, most of whom are orphans. I do not know how I am going to manage to feed them, as at the moment I can only feed them on porridge,” Lando said.
Elijah Jagero, a hotelier in Homa Bay Town, said they have been forced to increase fish prices due to scarcity and high purchasing prices.
He said hyacinth has affected transport in most beaches, and the fishermen are forced to spend more in transport since they are forced to travel a long way to the market.
“Before, the fishermen used to dock in the Homa Bay main pier market. However, since the invasion of the lake by the hyacinth, they are being forced to use longer routes to reach the market,” Jagero said.
Mary Abich has been in the fishing business for 30 years but has now turned to the second-hand clothes business. She urged the county and national governments to urgently tackle the hyacinth menace. She said women and youths are the ones who have been worst hit.
“Our youths who used to go out fishing and the boda boda operators who used to carry fishmongers have now turned to crime,” she said.
“We want to appeal to the county government to liaise with the national government to look for an urgent solution to the problem we are facing. Let them even look for excavators to help remove the weed.”
GOVERNMENT INACTION
For the past six years, the Homa Bay government has failed to allocate any funds for the rehabilitation of the weed, which always hurts its economy whenever it emerges.
Homa Bay Bunge la Wenye Nchi speaker Walter Opiyo said this shows lack of concern and recognition by the county government of the fishermen and fishmongers.
He said despite all the sufferings the fishermen have been going through, the county has not taken any measures to address the problem.
“The affected counties should come together and set aside some resources to even purchase a water hyacinth harvester to help eradicate it whenever it emerges. Unfortunately, this has never come to their mind,” Opiyo said.
“Even though they have been trying to fight new infections and the spread of HIV and Aids, they don’t realise this is one of the factors forcing the fisher folk into the Jaboya business.”
He criticised the county for collecting taxes from the fisher folk without looking into their plight.
“I am happy with what woman representative Gladys Wanga did at the Homa Bay pier, where she constructed a modern market and storage facility. This shows she is concerned about the fisher folk’s plight,” Opiyo said.
The Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project bought a hyacinth harvester at Sh80 million to clear the weed from the lake in 2015. However, it has been lying idle at the Kisumu inland port over what LVEMP II manager Isaac Ngugi termed “procurement challenges” in buying the hooks. The hooks require an additional Sh2.3 million.