Nigeria’s quest for self-sufficiency in fish production is being hurt by high cost of inputs and high rate of smuggling, which experts say may reverse the progress made in the subsector over the years.
Industry players who spoke to BusinessDay said that about 1,000 metric tons of tilapia fish where smuggled into the country through the land boarders, stating that the fish which was imported from China to Benin is destined for the Nigeria market.
Also, the prices of fish feed which constitute bulk of the input component in fish farming has increased by 7 percent from N5, 225 in January 2017 to N5, 600 as at the time of writing.
“There is high rate of tilapia smuggling into the country. The fishes are imported from China to Benin and are routed through the land boarders into the country. This is a very big setback to the little progress we have made in achieving self-sufficiency,” said Tiamiyu Nurudeen, national president, Tilapia Aquaculture Developers Association of Nigeria (TADAN) told BusinessDay in a telephone response to questions.
“The prices of key inputs such as feeds have been on the rise. A lot of farmers are closing down because it has been really difficult for us. About 20 farms have been shut down within the last three months in Lagos alone,” Nurudeen said.
He called on the Federal Government to come to the aid of fish farmers in the country, stating that the country can only boost its production through aquaculture farming.
Fishing subsector under the agricultural sector contracted 2.72 percent in Q2 2017 from 5.49 percent in Q1 2017 and 0.76percent in Q4 2016, according to the GDP Q2 report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
“The situation is very bad for fish farmers because of the high cost of feeds in the market due to foreign exchange scarcity,” said Tayo Akingbolagun, national president of Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN).
Nigeria’s total annual fish demand is put at 2.7 million metric tons (MT), while the country produces only 800,000 MT, leaving a gap of 1.9 million MT annually, according to data obtained from the country’s agricultural road map.
“The biggest challenge fish farmers face is high cost of feeds,” Gbola Akande, executive director, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, told BusinessDay.
“Fish feed is a critical factor in aquaculture. It constitutes 70 percent of production cost for fish farmers. Fish meal is been imported into the country and the FX issues have led to the increase in the price,” Akande said.
Bamidele Onibalusi, chief executive officer of Denoli Farms said, “2mm of fish feed we usually buy for N5, 500 is now being sold for N9, 100. Despite the increase in feeds, prices of catfish still remain the same.”
“This is hurting the business of most farmers. As a result of this a lot of farmers are closing their farms since it is no longer profitable,” said Onibalusi.
Nigeria’s aquaculture industry is largely untapped and beset with a combination of worsening piracy attacks, poor access to credit, lack of the requisite technical skills, unavailability of good quality and moderately priced fish feed, as well as lack of direct investment.
Gbola Akande, who was earlier told BusinessDay government still needs to create an environment that will attract investors in aquaculture, but admitted that there is an ongoing research from the government that could help reduce the cost of feeds.
Josephine Okojie
