40 Ogun farmers to get N200m FAO support

No fewer than 40 Ogun State residents are billed to benefit from the Food Agriculture Organisation’s N200m support for fish farmers.

Under the pilot scheme, each of the 40 farmers is to receive between N2.5m and N5m to upscale fish farming business and production.

Representative of the Food Agriculture Organisation in Nigeria and West Africa, Koffy Kouacou, made this known during the inauguration of Scaling Fish Farming through Finance (Access to input finance under the FISH4ACP project) at Eriwe fish farming cluster in Odogbolu Local Government area of Ogun State.

Kouacou explained that the project funded by the European Union in collaboration with other development partners such as the GIZ as well as both the state and the Federal government is primarily to make funding more accessible for the fish farmers to boost fish production in the country.

Kouacou disclosed further that the essence of this initiative is to strengthen the fish farmers’ capacity to produce more fish locally, create more business opportunities in aquaculture and help end fish import in the country.

Kouacou explained that Nigeria needs about 3.2m metric tonnes of fish yearly but produces 1.2 metric tonnes leaving it with a deficit of 2m metric tonnes of fish per annum.

“To bridge this gap, we have to support fish farming in Nigeria, and, at FAO, our mandate is to support the government to overcome this challenge and achieve zero hunger.

So we are here at Eriwe fish cluster in collaboration with both Ogun and Federal Government, the GIZ, the EU delegation in the country and the partnering financial institutions to launch this project that will help the farmers to access required finance to upscale their fish farming business and cover the deficit of fish production in the country.

“We are starting the pilot project with 40 farmers and this is a call for action for more financial institutions to come on board the partnership to achieve zero import of fish. Like I said, we are supporting 40 pilot farmers and each will receive between N2.5m to N5m, so in all we should be looking at providing N200m support for these farmers,” he said.

Kouacou explained that with the right action and policies, land mass, human resources and temperate weather, Africa can someday be the world’s food basket.

The Programme Manager, Agriculture, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Hugh Briggs said that the FISH4ACP project is being implemented in 12 countries of the world with Nigeria getting the lion’s share of the grant totalling €5m to boost fish production in the country.

Briggs, however, urged the beneficiaries of the grant to utilise the fund effectively to create more job opportunities in the aquaculture value chain and most importantly bring about a significant increase in local fish production.

Speaking at the event, the Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Wellinton  Omorogbon represented by Mr Paul Apuma lauded FAO and the EU as well as other development partners for supporting Nigeria’s government to improve on its fish production capacity.

Omorogbon disclosed that Nigeria with its enormous water bodies should be able to harness these resources to improve fish production but the challenge of access to finance with reference to the skyrocketing cost of feeds are major difficulties the fish farmers have to battle within the country.

He added, “We know that one of the major challenges confronting the fish farmers is finance with the skyrocketing price of feeds but with a partnership like this with the FAO, GIZ and European Union, we shall be able to support our farmers and bridge up the fish production deficit.”

The Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Bolu Owotomo represented by the Director of Fisheries department, Victoria Ojelade, while lauding FAO and other development partners for the initiative, appealed that a similar kind gesture be extended to other fish clusters in the state.

Speaking, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction, Olu Okuboyejo, while appreciating the support of FAO and other development partners for the fish farmers, pledged that the fund would be used efficiently to impact fish production in the country.