OLUGBENGA SALAMI examines the collaboration between the National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research, NIFFR and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to ensure adequate support for aquaculture practitioners under the Growth Enhancement Support, GES scheme.
Nigeria, according to report is currently the largest fish consumer in Africa with a total consumption of over 1.2million metric tonnes. The estimated national demand for fish in the country is put at 2.6million metric tonnes which are a wholesale value of more than $1.5billion.
There is no doubt that this demand cannot be met locally, hence reason for huge importation to bridge the wide gap, not until recently when the Goodluck Jonathan administration launched the agriculture transformation agenda, ATA, not much attention was given the fisheries sub-sector by the government.
Though fisheries are contributing only three to four percent to Nigeria’s gross domestic product, GDP, it is a very vital component of the nation’s agricultural sector in particular and the economy in general, providing employment for millions of people, and contributing about 50 per cent of the animal protein intake by the populace.
However, to enhance fish production in the country, the National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research, NIFFR is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to ensure adequate support to aquaculture practitioners under the Growth Enhancement Support, GES scheme anchored by the ministry.
Executive Director of the institute, Dr Augustine Okaeme, said that the support would not only would enhance fish production, but also create fish market and enable fish farmers to access funds from the federal government.
He said that the government planned to distribute 34,000 fingerlings to 10,000 fish farmers in the Niger basin, through the institute, adding that the institute had received 6,000 fingerlings for the farmers already.
Okaeme said that under the scheme, the institute also had the responsibility to identify fish farmers in Kebbi, Kwara and Niger. “Most of the distribution will involve fingerlings and some elements of fish feeds. It is good for them to get into the national database quick so that they can benefit, as this will enable them to have access to market and access to fund that will enable them to improve their business”, he stressed.
The executive director expressed the hope that the GES would create market for the farmers, pointing out that the lack of access to market was a major constraint facing fish farmers. He noted that “one of the major limitations is creating market but once they are in this scheme, they will be able to interact with other farmers to know where the markets are”.
Okaeme urged farmers to see farming as a business venture so that they would improve their well-being, adding that they needed to make farming a major source of income, especially, in this era of unemployment.
He gave an assurance that the institute was committed to creating more jobs in the fish farming system for both the youths and the unemployed.
“We’ll empower them to see farming as a business venture so that they can improve on their lives and make farming a major source of income, particularly nowadays that there are no opportunities for employment.
“Our mandate revolves around developing technologies that will assist farmers in aquaculture to improve their productivity and promoting the attainment of self-sufficiency in fish production through rational exploitation of the inland aquatic resources of Nigeria.
“We have come up with strategies to make every farmer an employer of labour; we teach them the skills on how to produce their own fingerlings and local feeds. Farmers cannot produce fingerlings and feeds alone, so, there is a need to employ people”, he further explained.
To boost fish production, Okaeme informed that the institute had created a platform for farmers to access funding. “We are running a microfinance facility for the farmers; we have grouped them into cooperatives and each of the groups will be able to access up to N200, 000 from which we encourage them to buy mobile phones”, he said.
The executive director explained that the phones would ensure communication between the farmers and the institute, disclosing that the institute’s researches were being funded by the federal government and the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme to undertake new researches.
“Currently, we are researching into producing fish seeds that can mature in four months instead of seven months. ‘’We are also researching into high quality easily convertible fish feeds that can give fish flesh.
“We have partnered the Nigerian Stored Produce Research Institute, Ilorin, for value addition in packaging and preservation of fish. We have also collaborated with the National Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research and the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation for fabrication of our developed tools”, he said.
The executive director, however, identified public enlightenment of the institute’s products, farmers’ lack of access to market and capacity building of scientists and farmers as the challenges facing the institute.
Though the present administration is trying its best in addressing the challenges of the agricultural sector in general, the fisheries sub-sector still needed to be given much attention by the government and other stakeholders for proper development and management of aquatic resources, and encouragement of private sector investment to boost fish production in the country.
Aquaculture, which is the fish farming aspect of the subsector, experts maintained is capable of producing two million metric tonnes of fish annually, and if properly harnessed could make Nigeria produce enough fish for local consumption and even export.