By James Ogunnaike
ABEOKUTA — THE Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, has said that Nigeria needs 3.2 million metric tonnes of fish annually to meet local demand.
The organization said the country only produces about 1.2 million metric tonnes, leaving a significant deficit of 2 million metric tons that is currently filled by imports.
The FAO representative in Nigeria and West Africa, Koffy Kouacou, who disclosed this during the inauguration of Scaling Fish Farming through Finance at the Eriwe fish farming cluster in Odogbolu Local Government area of Ogun State, called for action to end the 2 million metric tons of fish import in the country annually.
Kouacou said: “In Nigeria, we need 3.2m metric tonnes of fish but today we can only produce 1.2 metric tonnes of fish leaving us with a deficit of 2m metric tonnes of fish per annum.
“To bridge this gap, we have to support fish farming in Nigeria, and at FAO, our mandate is to support the government to overcome this challenge and achieve zero hunger.
“ “We are here at Eriwe fish cluster in collaboration with both Ogun and Federal Government, the GIZ, the EU delegation in the country and the partnering financial institutions to launch this project that will help the farmers to access required finance to upscale their fish farming business and cover the deficit of fish production in the country.
“Nigeria’s aquaculture industry holds immense promise for food security, nutrition, and economic growth. It is a vital sector that provides livelihoods for countless individuals and contributes significantly to protein availability.”
“Globally, FAO strengthens farmer capacity and value chains in fisheries and aquaculture, ultimately boosting food availability and production through technical expertise, global knowledge sharing, and innovative solutions. This includes training communities in new processing techniques, supporting the adoption of context-specific innovations, and developing value chain analyses to improve efficiency and market access”.
“It is in this spirit of collaboration and shared vision that the FAO-FISH4ACP project has been diligently working to advance the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria’s fisheries and aquaculture sector, providing them with access to financing, markets, and technical assistance.”
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