Transportation costs major challenge of aquaculture- Expert

An aquaculture expert, Dr Chukwuyerem Ekeledo, has blamed high transportation costs as the major challenge facing fish farming in Nigeria.

Ekeledo, a fishery consultant and CEO of Magnifica Farms, said this in an interview on Thursday, in Lagos.

He noted that transport costs was a major determinant of activities in the aquaculture business and price of fish.

"Basically one of the problems we have in the Nigerian agriculture industry and the fishery sector, in particular, is the value-chain.

"Years ago production was the major challenge in fish farming but now it is not so. Our problem in this sector is the ability to develop and create different value-chains for fish farming.

"One major challenge affecting the fish value-chain is transportation. It determines a lot and most farmers are not taking this into cognisance.

"Transportation affects the price of fish and the variances are determined by the distance from farm to the market and ultimately to the table.

"It is the transporters that determine the final price of fish in the market, sometimes the fish farmers have to reduce their gains to stabilise the fish prices," the expert said.

Ekeledo also blamed the poor business acumen of local fish farmers as a major hindrance to their productivity and expansion of the sector, saying that access to fish feed was not a major problem to the sector, but a good understanding of the value-chain by local farmers.

"Another problem facing aquaculture business in Nigeria is the fact that most local farmers do not understand how to market their produce.

"We have the problem of adequately marketing the value-chains. Yes, the value-chains exists already but we have not yet understood the major hindrances in them.

"The average fish farmers are just farmers and not businessmen, they do not understand the rudiments of business to boost their capacity.

"Fish feed may be expensive now but that is not the crux of the fish farmers' problem.

"If fish farmers can come together as cooperatives and give their specifications to the feed production companies, they can feed at friendly prices,"Ekeledo said.