Lessons from the memorable visit to Dickem Farms

Established over 25 years ago as a vision of the Founder and globally – recognized agripreneur, Godwin Emakenem at Ishashi area, nearby the Lagos State University, Dickem Farms is the largest fish farm in the city. Besides, it has over those years evolved as an integrated agricultural concept with 32 fish ponds, including a hi – tech fish mill that produces Dickems fish feeds. But as the saying goes, “seeing is believing” which made the visit there on special invitation one eye-opening experience to cherish.

On what factors could have inspired him to venture into such an employment generating farm, he explained that he was in Andhra Pradesh in India, riding a bicycle to work when three Indian children asked a question that became a game-changer. And what could that be? The inquisitive young minds asked him to tell them when and how to know if fish sleep? In the absence of Google back to then in those heady days, he could not provide a credible answer. He ran away from them and it took him three odd months to understand through practical insight on fish farming the answer to their questions.

Back home from India and specifically in Ishashi, Lagos Nigeria he decided to engage in fish farming with great passion. In fact, he discovered that it is one simple agribusiness to go into by anyone willing to do so. And with regards to benefits, it provides not only employment, but both food and nutrition security. That is more so, when the fish farm is combined with the production of maize, groundnut cake and soybeans, as he has done. As he aptly stated: ” In my farm we advocate that people should plant what is they eat and eat what they grow”.

Growing these crops provides the fish feed for the fish. According to him, for every kilogram of fish he needs 1.2 kg of the raw materials. That brings the Fish Feed Factory (FFF) into the picture. But to succeed in fish farming you must get two things right – water and feed. While quality water is required for the fish to grow, they depend on the feed for survival and sustenance. He has however, highlighted the fact that catfish, which lives in fresh water is easier to raise than scale fish which thrives more in salty water. The factor which affects their growth is that they must neither be underfed nor overfed.

It is interesting to learn from the bitter experiences he has gone through with the fixing and running of the N36. 8 million worth fish feed production plant. Though he got it from India and four Indian nationals came along with him to keep it active and working, that was not to be, at least for months after installation. It was a strange but true experience for him and the factory workers to note blood stains on the newly brought machine. But what could be responsible for that?

It took months after frequent fumigation and the installation of close circuit cameras to discover that the sweet aroma of the groundnut cakes that was the allure for the rats, especially the pregnant ones which were about to deliver the young ones to visit the plant. They spilled the blood while climbing the machine fixed at the northern part of the vast fish farm. What more, there were no buildings close by, leaving large expanse of the farm to allow the rats to thrive and multiply. With the camera capturing the scenario of what really transpired at night and the introduction of cats the workers were able to get four bags filled with the dead rats! Yet, that was not the only challenge Dickem Farms confronted.

All because it is located in a marshy area the flooding challenge the farm faced during the year 2012 that the dam in Cameroon was opened was really scary. Specifically, it led to 6large dispersal of fish from Dickem Farms into the nearby localities. With hundreds of fish floating around before falling into their compounds, the residents thought it was like the Biblical ” manna from heaven”! It led to massive loss to the farm. But in response the management had to fix fish nets, especially at the channels through which they flushing floods sent the fish from the farms. But that experience provided the ingenuity for paradigm shift to the use of smaller floating machines.

According to Godwin there is economic wisdom in the choice of such because each extruder fish feed machine has the potential of generating employment for 8-10 people. That reduces cost of transportation while it gets to farmers at a cheaper rate. As he stated during the visit: ” The concept we are promoting is that fish feed factory should be a small-scale industry that can be made available in every locality. With this extruder alone I can empower an entire village.

” And in the locality, I will give the farmers seeds of maize, groundnut, soybeans as well as fertilizers. As they grow these crops there is a market waiting for it. The multiplier effect is that job is created for between 50-100 farmers to grow the crops. The wastes can be eaten by goats, sheep and other ruminants.”

Interestingly, too Godwin is a diehard advocate of zero waste and waste to wealth from his experience in India. There, no agricultural material is allowed to go to waste. He is also a promoter of industrialisation right from the home level. As well stated, ” I have a dream that every young African will become an employer of labour. It started in China and India. There they would ask you what are you doing with a three-bedroom flat if you cannot convert one of the rooms into a small-scale factory.? In China the number of factories double every two years and 40 per cent of their income goes into expansion of factories.” He is against the supply of GMO foods to Nigeria by the United States as such is not done to China or India.

All said, with Dickem Farms doing great by training several young Nigerians on the nitty-gritty of modern farming and expansion to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Equatorial Guinea there are lot of lessons to learn from the agripreneur. Indeed, it is a piece of good news that Dickem Farms is being extended to Aiyedaju village where he grew up. It is big kudos to him as we wish the farm management all the best in the years to come. A visit there will be worth your while.