Economy
Recently, the federal government has started a campaign to encourage millions of unemployed Nigerians, especially the youths to get involved in agricultural activities.
Perhaps, these Nigerians should look the direction of fish farming because of the huge economic opportunities in this agricultural value chain.
By Anthony Isibor.
FISH farming provides enormous opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the country and it can also serve as an additional source of income for workers in this New Year. According to afrimsh.com, thousands of Africans venture into Fish farming yearly as it accounts for over 50% of the world market for fish products.
It is also seen as one of the numerous ways to create self-employment in the country despite the fact fish farming is one of the neglected sub-sectors of the agricultural value chain.
According to experts, catfish is one of the most attractive species of fish to farm, because of its doggedness and high survival rate in adverse conditions. The experts are of the view that catfish can live without water for up to 18 hours.
A fish farmer may decide to focus only on fish hatching, which is the production of fingerlings and sell to farmers, who want to raise them to bigger sizes, or engage in raising of the hatched fingerlings into consumable sizes, table size, and sell to the teeming consumers.
Whichever one a farmer chooses to get involved in, the process of learning it is as simple as it gets.
Kelly Osazie, a catfish farmer resident in Ogun state told Realnews that there is always a ready market waiting to buy off the fish no matter the number available for sale.
Osazie also added that he had been in the business for over five years and no one really thought him and that he learned the business with time.
“I can say that it is a very profitable business. I hatch over 30,000 fingerlings from just one fish,’ he said. However, Osazie insisted that one of the major challenges in fish hatching is getting the right water PH for the fragile fingerlings to survive in, and the availability of enough oxygen in the water was also another very important factor.
“You must get the right water PH for the fingerlings or else the mortality rate will be very high. You might even lose all your hatched fingerlings.
“Another major challenge that we are facing right now is the cost of feeds for these fishes,” he said.
He listed some of the numerous advantages available to fish farmers in the country as the abundance of water supply, low cost of starting and running a fish farm compared to many other agricultural value chains. The provision of fish ponds can be carried out by the fish farmer at a relatively cheap cost, whether it is a concrete pond or an earthen pond.
Osazie also added that becoming a catfish farmer takes patience, courage, smartness, and determination.”Above all you have to give it all the time it requires, he said.
– Jan. 10, 2022 @ 17:06 GMT |
A.I
Tags: FISH farming Kelly Osazie
