Global demand for shrimps and prawns is on the rise and Nigeria’s seafood growers can earn substantial dollars from the non-oil export, but the growers are failing to tap the opportunity in the global $39 billion market.
The Nigerian seafood industry is estimated at about $1 billion. Despite having the potential to create hundreds of jobs, the industry is still largely untapped as low technical know-how and weak cold chain infrastructure continue to hinder investments, according to experts.
“The opportunities in shrimps and prawns cultivation are enormous if we can harness it. Both global and local demand for it is rising daily,” Bisi Adepegba, former director, Federal Department of Fisheries, told BusinessDay on the phone.
“This is because Nigeria’s shrimps and prawns are among the best in the world. As a result, there is high global demand for them,” Adepegba said.
Nigerian shrimp is largely produced in the Niger Delta, which is reputed as the second-largest brackish habitat in the world, experts say.
Shrimps and prawns, a subsector of the fishing sector, have an inshore production of 17,654 metric tonnes annually, according to data obtained from the Federal Department of Fisheries.
Eating shrimps helps to promote heart and brain health due to their rich content of Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidant astaxanthin. They are also high in several vitamins and minerals as well as a rich source of protein.
The global value of shrimps and prawns is estimated at $39 billion and is expected to reach $68 billion by 2027.
“The potential of the seafood industry is very huge in Nigeria but farmers and investors are not well informed of the opportunities,” Gbola Akande, former executive director, Nigerian Institute for Oceanographic and Marine Research (NIOMR), told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview.
“The Asians have identified this potential in the Nigerian shrimps and prawns industry and that is why they are investing massively in it,” Akande said.
The country currently has an Indian firm that is cultivating shrimps and prawns by piping the Atlantic Ocean into their farms, Akande said. He said other Asian firms that do export also trawl shrimps and prawns from the sea.
India-owned Atlantic Shrimpers, Nigeria’s biggest exporter of the seafood, is said to have made over $100 million investment in the country’s seafood industry.
But Nigeria is yet to develop its shrimps and prawns sector, unlike the Asians, according to Samuel Obasa, lecturer, aquaculture and fisheries management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
Nigerian players in the industry include Banarly Nigeria Limited, ORC Fishing and Food Processing Limited, Karflex Fisheries Limited, Seagold Fisheries Limited, and other smaller players operating under the umbrella of the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association (NITOA).
“The technology of mariculture is not yet in Nigeria. It is the Asians that are bringing in the technology,” Obasa said.
To be competitive and tap the opportunities, Akande said, local farmers need to be trained on the technology and cold chain infrastructure must be improved upon to drive investments in the subsector.
“Nigeria must provide support to farmers to harness these opportunities in form of cheap credit and infrastructure because cultivating shrimps and prawns requires a massive investment,” Akande said.
Obasa called on the government to work with the Asians currently cultivating the seafood in the country for transfer of knowledge.
“There is a research going on to know if they can be cultured in captivity using freshwater and become one of the cultivable shell fish species in aquaculture,” Obasa said.
Josephine Okojie
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