‘Aquaculture business is good in Nigeria, but…’

Bosede Adetoun Odedele is a farmer and member of Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN). In this interview with STEPHEN GBADAMOSI, she recounts her journey in the profitability and inclement situation of doing agribusiness in the country. Excerpts:

WHERE are you coming from and how did you get into farming business?

I retired from the state civil service in 2016. I had been a fish farmer before my retirement and I later ventured fully into the agribusiness. My first farm was at Ayegun Village, Egbeda Local Government Area of the state. It was on a three-acre land.

Why did you choose fish farming?

It was because I believed it had prospects in the Nigerian market. Fish is a top source of protein. Everybody and, particularly, the adults need it. We have the market in Nigeria.

Drug barons target air passengers with small luggage

What were the challenges you later came to face on it?

There have been so many challenges, but the very one that I can recollect now is theft of fishes and hostilities coming into from communities of operation, most especially, cattle herders who forced their way in for their cattle to drink from the ponds and, thereby, contaminate the waters. They were not making things encouraging for us at all.

But with the grace of God, we were surviving. Although, I reported to the police many times, no one was apprehended till date. In fact, they always invaded the farms at night.

How lucrative would you describe the business, if it were devoid of such challenges you mentioned?

Well, no business is as lucrative as you make it. In our case, we got what I would call value for our services. We embarked on the best practices you would want in the industry, so as to get the value that we desire. We stocked our fingerlings at the right time, under the right temperature. We ensured pond water is changed as and when due and administer relevant medication at the right time. Above all, you don’t stock more than necessary in a particular pond. And fish feed was never in short supply.

If you do all that in fish farming, and, perhaps, more care is taken, you will be successful in it.

So, how is the farm now?

I had a terrible encounter the last time I travelled with my family last year. While I was away, my farm manager and the security man called to inform me that fishes that were ripe for harvest, worth millions of naira, were carted away with equally millions-worth fish feeds and farm equipment. The security man was wounded. When I came back, I reported the incident to the police, but no one was apprehended. The community became very threatening because of frequent invasion, theft of our fishes and the attendant effects on the community.

What do you thing should be the solution to all these problems?

The simple thing is to intensify efforts on security of lives and property, so as to encourage investors into the country. Where there is no adequate security, indigenes of the communities who had gone out to do well for themselves would not come to do business in their own father’s land, let alone foreigners who would want to put hope in a place they would be considered alien.

Can you quantify the money you lost in the process of all these experience and challenges?

What I can calculate is almost N20 million, because I sold the ones I had in stock before I embarked on that travel I mentioned, and I stocked the pond with fresh juveniles which I intended to sell in the New Year. But to my surprise, the entire ponds were poisoned and I lost about N20 million-worth of goods. That was besides the earlier attacks we had been managing to live by, thinking that security would improve later. It hasn’t till now.

Do you still hope to re-stock the ponds?

I am not thinking in that direction again, because of the hostility of the community. It appears that as we are being affected as business people, the communities are also helpless. In fact, I just heard that another farm very close to mine was recently invaded. I am also being threatened on a daily basis and I don’t know the source of the threats. The issues have given me psychological trauma that I no longer get myself. You know, a situation where you would be thinking about cattle disturbing your business and the communities would seem to be thinking you are the one bringing marauders to them is helpless.