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A lucrative investment in fish farming - You need fish to supplement your protein needs. More importantly, you need fish to shore up your personal finance
Ola Ogundolapo
WE must eat a balanced diet, so says the nutritionist. Our food must contain the right quantity of protein, the nutritionist goes on to assert. And he lists sources of protein to include meat, beans and fish. Meat, of course, is everywhere but not affordable. Visit a typical market and you see that the housewives seem to prefer fish. It is because it is relatively cheaper than meat, whether beef, mutton, chicken, turkey or pork.
More than 60 per cent of Nigerian citizens rely on fish for their source of protein, says a fish farm consultant, Mr. Emmanuel Audu. According to him, there is a wide gap between demand and supply as far as the availability of fish is concerned.
He says aquaculture in Nigeria has a potential of 1.3 million tonnes of fish annually but that it produces only 20,000 to 24,000 annually. This is hardly good enough to meet the annual requirement of the ever-growing population of the country.
To bridge the gap between demand and supply, more people are going into the fish farming business and it seems to be paying off financially.
Speaking about the profitability of a fish farm, Audu explains that aquaculture is one of the major ways of producing cheap animal protein in Nigeria today. He says that the financial commitment is such that low-income earners can go into it to boost their personal finances. With the right management and availability of water, the probability of success is more than 80 per cent, submits Audu.
Listing the advantages of fish farming, Audu says a farmer can often integrate a fishpond into his existing farm to create additional income or food for the household, and improve water management and soil fertility on the farm at the same time. The consultant says the fish produced in a pond are the owner’s property; they are secure and can be harvested at will. He adds that land that is too poor or too costly to drain for agriculture may be profitably devoted to fish farming if it is suitably prepared.
According to Audu, culturable fish species include catfish, trunk fish, slap water, tilapia and tarpon. The catfish species take between five and nine months to mature. He says the African catfish, clarias gariepinus, is the commonest and most popular species both for culture and consumer preferences. This species readily lends itself to culture preference because of the good flesh and the high feed to flesh conversion ratio.
He adds that specific feeds have been developed for catfish that enhance growth and ensure that general culture performance is readily predictable. Audu posits that fish farming can be a high profit-yielding business venture, if the entrepreneur ensures that the following factors are of good quality: fingerling, feed and water.
Fish are grown in ponds. There are different types of ponds. There are earthen ponds and concrete ponds that could be circular or rectangular.
Audu says the rectangular shaped pond is best because it is cheaper and easier to construct.
The recommended size is 6m x 4m x 1.5m. This, Audu says, can stock 3,000 catfish. He explains that after a site has been secured and a proper design made through the advice of an aquaculturist, the following steps should be followed: (a) excavation of foundation (b) casting of concrete footing (4-5-inch thick) (c) fixing of water outlet pipes (4” pressure pipes and fittings) (d) setting of blocks (9” vibrated hollow concrete blocks) (e) fixing water inlet pipes (3/4” pressure pipes and fittings) (f) pouring concrete on floor and all hollows in the blocks (g) plastering of walls (h) removal of cement and treatment of ponds with lime (i) filling ponds with water and application of fertiliser. Note that the outlet pipes should be directed towards an external drain (where such infrastructure is available) or to a soak away pit so as not to constitute an environmental nuisance. Also, a deep well or borehole must be sunk to serve as water source.
The construction of a standard rectangular pond costs between N110,000 and N150,000. The feeds that they will consume for six months that they will be ready for sale will cost approximately N200,000. It is assumed that a mortality of 200 out of a stock of 3000 juveniles is expected. So, at maturity, a stock of 2,800 adult fish is expected. At present, a kilogram of catfish sells for between N350 and N400. One catfish weighs about one kilogram and so the 2,800 stock can fetch the farmer between N980,000 and N1,120,000. Subtracting the cost of construction of the pond and the feeds from these amounts will give a net profit of between N630,000 and N770,000. Only very few investments can give one such a profit in six months.
Like any other business venture, there are difficulties or obstacles often encountered by farmers and to achieve a good harvest, which means overcoming the difficulties, a fish farmer must note the following: (i) Fish farming, like any other type of farming enterprise, needs good management; (ii) Advice must be adhered to. Many fish farmers often neglect the advice of experts and so they are the worse for it; (iii) Catfish tend to cannibalise on themselves, so the farmer must be careful to sort them regularly; (iv) Water quality needs careful monitoring; (v) Disease must be quickly controlled; (vi) Pond owners need fingerlings (young fish fry) which must be bought or raised; (vii)Supplies of good fingerlings may be difficult to obtain; (viii) Pond owners often find they have far too many very small fish. This is as a result of poor feeding; (ix) There are problems of predation. The main culprits are otters, birds, snakes and neighbours; and (x) Family and neighbours may be jealous of someone perceived as ambitious as to dig and manage a fish pond. The result may be ‘redistribution’, of the fish, social ostracism or accusations of witchcraft.
In summary, fish farming is one of such businesses that require less than half a million naira to undertake and which in less than six months can start giving back to the owner some financial succour.
The Punch, Wednesday, April 20, 2005
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