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Top 10 Under 40: Ezra Byakora

Growing up, Ezra Byakora never ate fish. It was a taboo in some subregions in Uganda and he was the first person from his family to eat fish. So, it’s not strange that aquaculture was not on his radar early on in life even while he was on a government scholarship in a Fisheries and Aquaculture Program.

But after taking on a volunteer role at The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) he gained an interest in aquaculture, a love that kept growing daily and earned him titles like fish midwife, Mr. Fish, Dr. Fish and Uncle Fish.

The 35-year-old’s favourite thing to do is work with farmers and see them grow. “In all the work that I do in private and public programs, my ultimate goal is to put a smile on the farmer’s face, it is so refreshing and motivating to produce fish that give a farmer more encouragement to grow from one production scale to another or have a better performance in every cycle or transformation phase.”

(Photo: Ezra Byakora)

Bob Atwiine, who nominated Byakora, said the manager fish program at the National Animal Genetic Resource Centre and Databank, Uganda also advocates for environmentally sustainable practices in his work.

“In his practices, he has been implementing environmentally sustainable aquaculture practices including responsible feeding to avoid excess feed decomposition and over-enriching the environment that would increase the nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations and bring about eutrophication in aquatic ecosystems,” said Atwiine.

Byakora’s advice for new hatchery professionals is “Be you. Be Fish. Enjoy your life and profession.’’