Ondo fish farm loses N100m to flooding

Over N100m worth of catfish, (Clarias gariepinus, Hetereobranchus bidorsalis  and their hybrids) owned by Osky Integrated Nigeria Limited, have been washed away by flood in the Benin-Owena River Basin in Igbaraoke,  headquarters of Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo state.

The flood which was caused by heavy rainfall destroyed many ponds housing the fishes, following the inflow of the flood into the waterbody that swept in effluents and pollutants thereby contaminating the water and causing death of various species of fish in the farm.

The manager of Osky Integrated Nigeria Limited, Mr Isaac Taiwo,  who disclosed this, explained that the downpour washed away many of the mature fishes which are ready harvest for while all the special hybrids being nurtured in the farm were washed away by the flood.

He lamented that flood wreaked havoc on the organisation farm saying millions of naira invested in the business had gone the drain, saying the organisation is currently facing a difficult period in addressing the effects of the flooding.

According to him,  hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of fishes had been washed away and this may lead to loss of several jobs and source of income.

He said, apart from providing jobs for unemployed graduates, youth and women, the farm has been a major supplier of protein needs as well as helping the economy of the state

Taiwo lamented that it was unfortunate that there was neither relief materials at the time the report of the pollution is filed nor any form of support whatsoever to mitigate the disaster.

“Osky Integrated Nigeria Limited is largely affected by this disaster which occurs following heavy rainfalls. The inflow of flood into the waterbody has swept in effluents and pollutants thereby contaminating and causing death of species of fishes farmed in the location.

“To manage the situation, financial capacity for substantial quality raw materials would assist the organization in getting back on track to achieve its aim of takling food insecurity and solving malnutrition.

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“This disaster has revealed more than ever that food shortage and looming health disasters may be heightened as well as posing a threat to the livelihoods of farmers and farm folks if not mitigated accordingly.

“We don’t want to lay off our workers because of the unfortunate incident but we are battling with the adverse effects of the disaster.

“We need assistance at this time of our business because the burden is heavy and difficult for us to bear”

He however, appealed to various relevant stakeholders to assist the organisation financially to cushion the effect of the organisation’s loss to rebuild the farm all over again.