FISH FARMING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA BY KINGSWAY AGRO SERVICES

Fish farming business in Nigeria is
currently a very lucrative
business and it is mainly
boosted by the continuous rise
in the demand for catfish,
reports the Nigerian Tribune. This trend, therefore, makes catfish
culture the most popular form of
fish farming in Nigeria and it is
therefore where the discourse of
this article is going to be centred. Whether you are just starting out
in aquaculture with the hope of
making just an extra income or
going into full scale commercial
production, Here you will discover
the prospects and the challenges facing the catfish industry in
Nigeria.
OVERVIEW OF FISH FARMING IN NIGERIA
Let me start by giving you a quick
over view of the state of fish
farming in Nigeria. The most common species found in
Nigeria are; Clarias gariepinus,
Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Clarias X
Heterobranchus hybrid
(Heteroclarias) and Clarias nigro-
digitatus. Heterobranchus sp are very
common in the south eastern part
of Nigeria with clarias spp
dominating in the west. Despite the popularity of catfish
farming in Nigeria, the fish farming
industry can best be described as
being at the infant stage when
compared to the large market
potential for its production and marketing. This is mainly due to unavailability
of fingerlings owing to lack of
adequate infrastructure for
hatcheries and fingerling
production.
BREEDING
If you intend to go into catfish
farming in Nigeria, the first thing
you have to get hold of is the
fingerlings. The fingerling can be obtained
mainly through artificial
propagation in the hatcheries
through hormonal induction. If you intend to produce your own
fertilized eggs, you can make use
of the homoplastic pituitary gland
suspension. In Nigeria, it is usually more
affordable than the imported
hormonal analogues. Fish Farmers
also say that they are more
r eliable. And I seriously dont
doubt them. But despite the beauty of induced
spawning, there are challenges
which you must face: both biotic
and abiotic challenges. These problems all have their root
in the extra care needed to be
given to the fry during the first
week of life. In this regard, you
have to battle with provision of
zooplankton which serves as feeds for the larvae, fry and fingerlings
thus playing a major role on their
growth and survival. There is also the problem of
cannibalism, heavy predation by
frogs/aquatic insects and the
abiotic challenges such as water
temperature, dissolved oxygen
(>4.5mg/L-1), levels of ammonia. The brood stock to use for the
purpose of breeding should be
between 0.3kg and 2kg.
CULTURE SYSTEM
Next thing on the line is the culture
system you will use. First and fore most, you have to be
aware that these African catfishes
(especially Clarias gariepinus) are
cannibals as such. So you should
take great care in sorting them
according to size. If you intend to culture the
fingerling outdoor, you should
take into consideration the
prevalence of predatory insects in
Nigeria. Therefore, ensure you
cover the tanks with mosquito nets so as to keep the predatory insects
away. For the adult, poly culture of clarias
gariepinus with tilapia spp is very
common in Nigeria and has been
known over the years to be
productive. This is carried out,
using mainly concrete tanks which allow supplementary feeding, thus
ensuring higher fish yield. Some few farmers also use indoor
water re-circulatory system (WRS).
But it is costlier, so most simply use
the concrete tanks.
FEED AN methods To achieve maximal yield and
growth of catfish in Nigeria, you
have to ensure that the feed you
are offering contains the essential
amino acids such as arginine,
methionine and lysine found in crude protein sources. The richest source of crude protein
for this purpose is fishmeal. But
due to its high cost, it is advisable
not to go for it (i.e. if you are just
starting out). Instead, you can use
other conventional and sometimes unconventional animal by-
products as well as plant residue
(such as groundnut cake, soyabean
cake etc.) that meet the nutrient
requirements of catfish. This is in order to minimize cost of
production as much as possible. Through development of fish
farming over the years in Nigeria,
feeding of catfish is predominantly
done using pelleted floating feeds.
This ensures adequate feeding of
the fish thus increased growth rate. However when feeding, it is
advisable to do it on a particular
part of the pond instead of just
scattering the feed across the
water surface. This helps to
minimize wastage of feed. Conclusion Finally, fish farming in Nigeria is an
untapped goldmine based on the
fact that there is an ever increasing
need for it as the best alternative
to meet the protein need of the
people. However, development of
aquaculture is completely hindered
by inherent problems of
developing nations such as lack of
adequate infrastructural facilities
for the production of commercial quantity fingerlings and fry. This
major problem not withstanding,
there is still a big market for fish
farming and investment in
aquaculture in Nigeria. This Industry Showcase Our Sponsors Partners.

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