THE Tilapia and Aquaculture Developers Association of Nigeria (TADAN) on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to invest heavily in the cold chain section of aquaculture to main quality.

The association’s Vice-President, Mr Nurudeen Tiamiyu, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos against the backdrop of the just-concluded elections.

Tiamiyu said that such investments would revive the sector and increase local fish production thereby, tackling inflation rate which was greatly affected by the cost of production.

According to him, the incumbent administration should see the next four years as an opportunity to fix food inflation rate which is still in double digit.

“The major reason for the double digit inflation rate year-on-year is as a result of high cost of production. If the Federal Government will tackle the cost of production, then inflation rate will come down to single digit.

“The next level we want to see in the aquaculture sector is that farmers are able to move their produce easily and with minimal cost.

“We want the government to invest more on the cold-room sub-sector that will help maintain and retain the quality of the produce.

“When this is done, then local production will increase and Nigerians will be sure of the quality of fish they eat,” he said.

Tiamiyu also told NAN that interest rates on farmers’ loans were not helping development of the sector as commercial banks still demanded over 22 per cent interest.

He said that there should be stiffer regulations and enforcement of the ban on imported Tilapia and other fishes and fishery products. (NAN)

– Mar. 13, 2019 @ 12:32 GMT |