Small-holder Fish Farmers Development Fish represents an important part of the diet of people in Nigeria. Fish is a relatively cheap source of generally food-safe protein. The country has a significant aquaculture sector at a registered output of 260.000 MT of catfish alone. Despite this, estimated demand for fish still exceeds that of supply with a factor 2 to 3. An estimate of 2007 points at, at least, small 50.000 catfish farms and several thousand large farms producing for domestic consumption, and the number is assumed to have increasedsignificantly since then. The country has good environmental conditions for aquaculture as water is widely available. Nevertheless, conditions for aquaculture performance are also hindered by lack of infrastructure (e.g. electricity for cooling and ice is not widely available), lack of regulatory support mechanisms (e.g. regulation for quality, sector management information systems, technical extension servicesto farmers and vendors). Good quality brood-stock and feed is available in the country, but too expensive for most farmers.
Despitethese hindrances, catfish farming is profitable and can be pursued without intensive (expensive) training. Setting up a farm is capital intensive, but many smallholders have started either as apprentices on someone else#s farm (cheap labour but also the opportunity to save enough to start by leasing a pond) or by constructing a pond on available land and gathering ingredients (waste products)for home-based feeds.
Smallholder fish farms in Nigeria
Running a typicalsmallholder farm involves anything between 2-10 ponds (20x40-50 meters is a common pond size), at a stocking density of 5-25 fingerlings or juveniles per m2, and grow-out cycles of 3-5 months before harvest. Fish can then be between 0.7 to 1.2 kg in size. The main markets for fresh fish are restaurants. In some parts of Nigeria the preference is for larger fish (1,5-2,5 kg). Production per year per pond (2 cycles, typically) lies between 500 kg to 2500 kg. The larger farmers can employ up to 4 workers, but most farms rely purely on their own and household member labour. Overall in Nigeria it seems 10-15% of the smallholders are women farmers. More common is to see women as vendors (middle-men) and market traders. Fresh fish is preferred and is sold to traders all-over the country. Some urban markets (e.g. Abuja, Lagos) prefer larger fish (more rare but higher priced). Other markets (e.g. Ibadan restaurants) accept smaller sizes. Smoking harvested catfish is becoming more common and enables farmers to manage for shorter grow-out cycles (smaller fish is more suitable) as well as add value and shelf-life (preservation).
The single largest cost-item in growing catfish is feed; which can cost up to 70-80% of all costs incurred during grow-out. The use of commercial feed is therefore limited to, mostly, the first 1-2 months (fingerling/juvenile stages) when fishare sensitive and mortality is high. After this, fish becomes hardier (mortality is typically 10-15% for fish aged between 2-5 months) and farmers resort to home-made feed as that is cheaper to fabricate. This feed, however, is less attractive to the fish (pollutes the ponds easier) and is less efficient in nutrition (reduced growth in fish). Relying purely on homemade feed can reduce this relative cost to 30-40%.
Chemical use is limited, but not to be ignored. Phosphocide is regularly used to sterilize ponds before bringing in the fish (poisonous bio-accumulating pesticide); formalin is used as alternative (and freely flushed out to surface streams);nutrients (in water and pond bottom) are commonly freely flushed into neighboring water streams. Of note is also that maggots (grown from chicken intestines as alternative and cheaper protein source for fish) can no longer be grown from poultry discardscoming from village-level poultry growers that keep animals indoors. There are also some indications that conflicts with surrounding communities can occur. Also poaching can be a problem. There is also little to no regulation concerning aquaculture (the term itself even being absent in laws). Only farms larger than 50 ha are required to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment. Food safety controls only exist on packaged and labeled products.
Other stakeholders desiring to come into the aid of smallholder fish farmers are faced with the challenges of near absence of farm documentation systems and absence of baseline data. In addition, is the absence of joint-venture initiatives among smallholder fish farmers/shared risk.
This pilot project aims to help smallholder fish farmers overcome some these weaknesses and develop a model that can be used by smallholder fish farmers to engage with different stakeholders.