The Federal Government, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has launched a N200 million support program to expand aquaculture across Nigeria.
This initiative is anticipated to assist and expand fish farming activities, increase local production, and reduce Nigeria’s reliance on fish imports.
Wellington Omoragbon, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, spoke at the inauguration of Scaling Fish Farming through Finance (Access to input finance under the FISH4ACP project), at Eriwe fish farming cluster in Odogbolu, Ogun State.
Omoragbon, represented by Paul Opuama, Director 11 at the ministry, said the initiative aimed to promote the sustainability of Nigeria’s fisheries resources.
He lauded the FAO and other development partners for supporting Nigeria in improving its fish production capacity.
He disclosed that Nigeria, with its enormous water bodies, should be able to harness these resources to improve fish production.
Omoragbon explained that access to finance, specifically the skyrocketing cost of feeds, was a major difficulty that fish farmers had to battle within the country.
“We know that one of the major challenges confronting the fish farmers is finance, with skyrocketing prices of feeds. But with a partnership like this, we shall be able to support our farmers and bridge the fish production deficit,” he said.
In his remarks, the representative of FAO in Nigeria and West Africa, Koffy Kouacou, called for action to end the country’s annual import of two million metric tonnes of fish.
He explained that the project, funded by the European Union in collaboration with other development partners, was primarily to make funding more accessible for fish farmers to boost fish production in the country.
He said that under the project’s pilot scheme, 40 fish farmers would collect N2.5 million and N5 million, totalling about N200 million to upscale their fish farming business and production.
He clarified that the project’s primary goal, supported by the European Union and other development partners, was to increase the availability of funds for fish farmers to increase fish output in the nation.
He stated that 40 fish farmers would get between N2.5 million and N5 million, or roughly N200 million, as part of the project’s pilot program to expand their fish farming operations and output.
Source: Business Day
Image Credit: FreePik
