Expert harps on catfish potential
Mr Okon Amah, an agriculture expert, has harped on the potentials of catfish as he called for more exploration of its value-chain.
Amah, an aquaculture consultant, made the call in an interview on Thursday in Lagos.
"Every part of catfish is useful and can be utilised if we concentrate on improving its value-chain.
"As an expert in aquaculture, I call catfish the 'Master Fish'. It is a master fish because of its ubiquitous nature. Every part of it can be reproduced into something useful.
"Catfish should not just be for consumption but for multi-purposes. Catfish farmers need to be informed and trained on how to utilise the value-chain," the expert said.
He said that catfish farmers were trained not to waste any part of the catfish but to create wealth from it.
According to him, the catfish oil can serve as a replacement for the importation of cod fish oil for medicinal and cosmetic reasons.
Amah noted that catfish oil is highly nutritious for children's diet and a better alternative to other cooking oil.
"Catfish skin can produce a considerable amount of healthy fish oil for consumption. The cheapest catfish oil goes for as much as N10, 000 per litre in local markets today.
"The catfish oil can replace the importation of cod liver oil which is in high demand in both the health and cosmetic industries.
"We can make meals more nutritious and delicious by addition of catfish oil in children's diet.
"The offals of the catfish (i.e the intestines and innards) are also very useful in production of feed meal for both fish and poultry," he said.
In addition, Amah called for the processing of the catfish innards in the production of fish and poultry feed meal.
"If the innards are dried up and ground, it can be processed into fish meal for aquaculture. The innards can also be fed boiled to the large-sized catfish as a whole meal.
"Catfish processers do not need to throwaway the innards again but can process it and make more profits their trades.
"These innards have 60 per cent protein content that is beneficial for good development and growth for aquaculture," he added.
