There is a marked increase in the export of shrimps and prawns from Nigeria, on the back of safer seaways in the country.
The latest external trade analysis report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that frozen shrimps and prawns worth N6 billion were exported during the three-month period ended September 2016. Shrimp and prawn exports represented 37.2 percent of agricultural exports between July and September of 2016 making it the eighth largest export product in the third quarter of 2016, according to the NBS report.
Stakeholders say the export numbers are an indication that the seafood industry has the capacity to grow and earn the country huge foreign exchange, while creating hundreds of jobs in the country, as long as the government draws a master plan for the sub-sector, as it has done for rice.
“The high performance of shrimp exports during the third quarter of 2016 was nothing new. During the years 2004 to 2006, this subsector was the fourth largest non-oil foreign exchange earner for Nigeria but this had to go down due to piracy, sea robbery, high cost of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) which made many trawler owners to close shop,” said Akinsola Amire, president, Nigeria Trawlers Association (NITOA) in an email response to questions.
“The Nigerian Navy is now more in control of the maritime environment and so the rate of piracy and armed sea robbery have drastically reduced, thus providing a conducive environment for operations,” Amire said.
Amire stated that the potential for the industry is high and recommend that the government ensures that growth recorded by the subsector in the non-oil export is sustained.
“The record can be sustained by ensuring safety and security at sea, rationalising the very many agencies that want to control sea fishing activities, other than the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Federal Ministry of Transportation, through NIMASA that registers vessels,” he said.
He noted that a lot of companies were now in the business of trawling, which involves pulling fishing nets through the waters. Many of the existing operators have increased their fleet size, all in the bid to key into government’s food security programme of the Green Revolution.
Shrimps and prawns belong to a subsector in the fishing industry, with an inshore production of 17,654 metric tons annually, according to data obtained from the Federal Fisheries Department of Agriculture.
Nigeria is one of the tropical countries that exports shrimps to developed countries like the United States , Europe and Japan, industry sources say.
Nigerian players in the industry include; Atlantic Shrimpers Limited (ASL), 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 Nigeria Trawler Owners Association (NITOA).
Nigerian shrimp is largely produced in the Niger Delta, which is reputed as the second largest brackish habitat in the world and more than 90 percent of trawled shrimps are exported.
“Most of the trawlers registered on our waters are registered for shrimping with few for fishing. Trawlers owners prefer shrimps and prawns than fish because of export,” Gbola Akande, executive director, Nigerian Institute for Oceanographic and Marine Research (NIOMR), told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview.
“The country exports about $50 million worth of shrimps yearly,” Akande said.
He states that the country currently has one firm that farms shrimps and prawns, noting that others are trawled from the sea.
According to him, the shrimps are very expensive to farm because they require salty water, unlike catfish and tilapia that require fresh water. “It costs a lot to dam a sea for the cultivation of shrimps and this is why you do not see farmers culturing shrimps and prawns,” Akande said.
Obiora Madu, chairman, export group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said, “the shrimps and prawns is an organised subsector and a lot of activities in the market are largely captured.”
A total of N16 billion worth of agricultural commodities was exported in the third quarter of 2016 and made up 16.04% of total non-oil export for the period, the report states.
Efforts to boost production of shrimps have led to a research by various universities of agriculture to come up with technology that would increase investments in shrimps and prawn farming.
“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,” said a doctor of agriculture who chose not to be named.
Josephine Okojie & Caleb Ojewale
