RAYMOND OZOJI reports
The business of fish farming was the crux of the matter at a 2-day national fish breeding workshop organised by the Federal Cooperative College Oji River Enugu State and Kasersart University Thailand.
The workshop which was held at FCCO multi-purpose college auditorium was an exposition to the nitty gritty of fish breeding and the incredible power of aquaculture to transform lives especially when built on systems that meaningfully empower people, afforded participants ample opportunity to interface with expert fish farmers from Thailand and their counterparts in Nigeria.
Provost and Chief Executive Officer of the college Dr. Jude Ejikeme Obidiegwu underscored the importance of the summit as he described it as a veritable platform for fish farmers across the country to obtain firsthand information on mechanised methods of fish productions not just for subsistence but on a commercial scale to enhance food security in the country.
Obidiegwu therefore advised participants to leverage on the workshop to broaden as well as expand their knowledge of fisheries and aquaculture, emphasizing that fish breeding is a delicate venture but very lucrative if the right approach is applied.
Meanwhile Professor Kornsorn Srikulnath, who was part of the Thailand delegation to Nigeria, said they were in the country to expose Nigerians to better ways of fish productions and aquaculture in general.
Srikulnath stated that the partnership with Federal Cooperative College Oji River would be sustained inorder to consolidate on teachings and trainings of local fish farmers in Nigeria on modern methods of fish productions.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Business Development Agency (FABDA) in Anambra State and keynote speaker at the workshop, Mr. Emeka Martins Iloghalu, noted that the Nigerian catfish sector was more than just a cluster of ponds and processors.
Iloghalu noted that the sector is a dynamic value chain ranging from hatcheries, seed fish and feed production to harvesting both seed fish and grown fish, processing logistics and market distributions.
He said at the heart of scaling and sustaining the value chain lies strategic powerful force which he mentioned as the cooperative movement even as he argued that there has to be impetus and targets to drive the cooperative movement.
He said to advance Nigeria's objective in the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector, partnerships were important to strengthen investments and support in the areas of economic development which borders on infrastructure with corresponding operational models and human capital development that borders on human resources.
The keynote speaker therefore posited that there is a dire need to reimagine cooperatives not just as social groups but as strategic economic vehicles deliberately structured to target specific segments of the aquaculture value chain where he pointed out that the Federal Cooperative College Oji River would play critical vital leadership role.
Iloghalu therefore maintained that with cooperatives, academic collaborators like the Federal Cooperative College Oji River together with international institutions like Kasersart University Thailand, Nigeria will raise an ebullient generation of aquaculture entrepreneurs.
Although Rev. Peter Agada Adagbo of the National Root Crops Research Institute Umudike Abia state, observed that the major problem hindering successful fish breeding in Nigeria is soil water. He said one can not talk about hatchery and breeding, if there is no good water source that meets the necessary water quality parameters such as desirable numbers of dissolved oxygen and others.
On the other hand, Dr. Sampson Ohaturuonye, Head of Department Fisheries Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, observed too that there is a daunting gap between research and development in Nigeria.
He stated that most of the States Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP) were no longer functional which makes it very difficult for students to transmit some of the findings in the universities to the farmers that needed the information most.
The university don noted that farmers only get useful information on latest development in fisheries and aquaculture from only cooperative societies or through summits like the one organized by the Federal Cooperative College Oji River and the Kasersart University Thailand.
He was however of the opinion that without transmission of vital information to the core farmers the gap between research and development will continue to exist even as he urged all and sundry as part of solution to advocate and advise state governments to revitalise the ADPs so that the gap between research and development can be effectively taken care of.
Also the Anambra state commissioner for Industry who was represented by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo on Commerce and Industry Mr. Eloka Maduekwe, the president Agriculture Value Chain Initiative in Anambra State, Mr. Benedict Ibekie and some other dignitaries described the national summit on fish breeding as solution to the economic quagmire in the country.
They concurred that the non-oil sector is the only way that Nigeria can come out of her economic hardships, even as they described the workshop as impressive and power-pact and that participants would be equipped with the technical know-how on fish breeding for wealth creation to enable them to be solutions to their respective communities and environments.
The Vice Chancellor Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Prof. Aloysius Michael Okolie, who was represented by the Dean faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Prof. Emeka Nzeh, lauded the efforts of the Provost and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Cooperative College Oji River Dr. Jude Ejikeme Obidiegwu, saying that the workshop on fish farming shouldn't be a one-off affair but a consistent effort to produce viable fish farmers to grow the nation's economy.
The Vice Chancellor maintained that the Federal Cooperative College Oji River is a fertile breeding ground for entrepreneurs and potential business owners who will contribute their quota in addressing issues of unemployment and job scarcity in Nigeria. He therefore added that agriculture is a big business and that youths should take advantage of it.
Dr. Uloma Azuinye, Head of Department Fisheries at Federal College of Agriculture Isiagu, a participant at the 2-day national workshop on fish breeding, said the summit taught them so many diverse ways of achieving successful fish production.
She also stated that the summit has exposed youths to the merits of fish farming as well as how they can earn a comfortable living from the practice. She equally stated that they were happy that another country came to tell them about the impact in investing in fisheries and aquaculture.
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