The Federal Government has welcomed the plan by Olam Firm International to introduce Barramundi Culture (Sea Bassa) to Nigeria and pledged to embrace the initiative through partnership with the group as a way of boosting local fish production and attainment of national food security.
Minister of State for Agriculture , Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made this known in Abuja, during a presentation on the prospect of Introducing Mari-culture into Nigeria by a delegation of Crown Flour Mills and Animal Feeds Production –a subsidiary of Olams International Ltd.
The delegation which was led by the Vice President of Animal Feeds and Protein, Mr Asish Pende also included Professor Matthew Tan, a Consultant working in the field with private fish farmers in Nigeria and other parts of Africa
Lokpobiri while commending Olam farms for producing quality feeds at moderate prices and being the leading manufacturer of fish feed products in the country, identified high cost of Feeds as the greatest challenge facing Fish growers. He therefore called on the private sector to embrace transfer of the new technology as this will ultimately lead to increase in local production thereby reducing fish importation in the long run.
Mr. Ashish Pandeh observed that embracing culturing of Sea Bassa in the country will bring many advantages such as good yields, higher productivity, reasonable returns on investment, as well as transfer of relevant technology; assuring that studies have shown that Nigeria has abundant land, coastlines and waterbodies suitable for commercial purposes
Prof Matthew Tan of the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries andAquaculture, James Cook University, Australia pointed out that the Sea Bassa has the capacity to produce about one to two million eggs at a stretch with potential of its fingerlings reaching a harvest size of 350-500 gms in six to nine months. He also identified creation of new jobs, potential to earn foreign exchange from Barramundi culture as advantages derivable from cultivation of Sea Bassa, even as same technology is easy to adopt for the development of other varieties like Marine, Fresh WaterTilapia and Fresh Water Shrimps.
The Director of Fisheries Department in the Ministry, Alhaji Muazu Mohammed said the Ministry Is making tremendous efforts to increase fish production in the country but stressed the need to diversify production through research in other varieties of local species. He noted that with the transfer of Barramundi culture (Sea Bassa) to Nigeria, there will be a significant increase in the domestic supply of fish.
The meeting stressed the need for collaboration with the National Institute of Oceanography Marine Research (NIOMR) in order to address factors hindering the growth of the sector such as; fund constraints, lack of adequate research, and high cost of fish feeds.
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