Victory Farms has made history by becoming the first tilapia farm in Kenya—and across Africa—to participate in an Aquaculture Improvement Project (AIP) under the Improver Program by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
This milestone marks a major step forward for responsible seafood farming on the continent. Victory Farms covers 50 hectares of tilapia farming in western Kenya’s Homa Bay (Nyanza region) and produces 18,000 tons of tilapia annually. Victory Farms operates a vertically integrated model, overseeing the entire value chain from hatchery to table.
The Improver Program by ASC supports farms committed to improving their farming practices to become more responsible. By joining the program, Victory Farms underscores its dedication to responsible farming and environmental stewardship.
Roy van Daatselaar, head of the Improver Program at ASC, said that "this is a landmark achievement not just for Victory Farms, but for Africa’s seafood farming sector as a whole. We are thrilled to support Victory Farms as they choose change and raise the bar for tilapia farming in the region.”
The AIP will involve close collaboration with ASC to identify areas for improvement, implement best practices, and monitor progress over time. This effort paves the way for Victory Farms to enhance key areas such as animal welfare and the responsible use of feed, while also serving as a blueprint for other aquaculture producers in Africa to follow.
Victory Farms’ Group Aquaculture Excellence manager, Nsogbu Wadike, said, “We’re eager to ensure our standards are world-class and traceable for all our consumers. Joining the AIP is an excellent opportunity to strengthen this rigor and reporting in our operations.”
ASC already drives change and supports improvements in seafood farming at scale across the world through its certification program. For those not ASC certified, the Improver Program by ASC supports farms that are not ready or eligible for ASC certification but are committed to improving their farming practices through an AIP. The combined impact of these many small changes in non-certified seafood farming contributes to the ASC's goal of transforming seafood farming as a whole for the future.
The Improver Program (ASC IP) comprises a set of procedures and tools to ensure that improvements are consistently and effectively implemented by producers in the form of Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIP).
Currently, there are 17 active AIPs in the shrimp sector across Ecuador (1), Kenya (1), Bangladesh (1), Indonesia (2), and Thailand (12). For a list of companies in the Improver Program by ASC, visit this page.
