Delta Beyond Oil: The massive fish production initiative
In order to create jobs and move away from the over-dependence on oil, the Delta State Government has embarked on a programme called “Delta Beyond Oil.” The initiative is designed to build massive infrastructure that will allow the state to survive beyond the revenue accruing to it from oil.
One of the objectives of the programmes is to engage young graduates and able bodied youth in the production of fish considered to have huge market in the country. Through this, the government hopes to make the youth self-employed, thereby halting the growing unemployment rate in the state.
The state has established large fish farms in Ughelli, Warri, Ekpan and Camp 74 in Asaba, the state capital. The Ughelli Fish Farm Estate, which was started by a group of young people, has over 6,000 ponds. In the Ekpan Fish Farm, the state has over 5,000 farmers, while the Warri fish farm is even larger. The Camp 74 Fish Farm in Asaba has over 400 ponds.
Our reported who visited the Camp 74 Fish Farm reports that the farm was started by a group of young graduates. Also, with micro credits from the state Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and the Central Bank of Nigeria agric intervention scheme, more young graduates went into fish farming.
80 percent of the fish farmers at Camp 74 farm are university graduates from various fields of study who have decided to key into the fish production programme of the state government in order to earn a living.
Located at Anwai road in a land owned by the Delta State University, Asaba Campus, the university leases a space of 20 by 24 feet which can take four ponds, to each of the farmers at N10, 000, annually. The farm is growing rapidly with many of the graduates developing their feed mill and sourcing raw materials locally.
Ogbo James Emma, is a graduate of Accounting from Delta State University, Abraka and owner of Cash Flow Agro Services Limited in Camp 74 Fish Farms. He told the reporter that he returned to take up small and medium scale enterprise in fish farming after fruitless search for job in Abuja. He is the proud owner of 22 ponds in the camp under the registered farm name “Cash Flow Agro Services Limited.”
Emma said: “I was actually looking at a business which I could start that has the potential to grow. Most of such business actually cut across the agricultural sectorfish farming, plantation, livestock and poultry. With little amount of money, you can start it and it has the potentials to grow.”
With interest in fish farming, he started with a rented pond in the camp. As the farm expands, he felt the need for operating a business which satisfies the legal requirement. He registered the farm as Cash Flow Agro Services in 2012. As at today, he has 22 ponds in operation with over 15,000 fishesalthough not fully stocked because of limited financial resources.
James said the Delta State programme, called Delta State Micro Credit Programme, invested over N4 million in the farm in 2011, which helped to boost production. Thereafter, another N2 million was invested through the Central Bank Agricultural Intervention Scheme.
“We have over 71 fish farmers here. Over 80% of them are graduates from various fields of endeavours. Each time I look at my farm, the growth rates, the turn over, the net worth and the number of employees I have, I now see myself preparing payroll,” he said.
Camp 74 fish farm is growing with land mass that can accommodate 1,000 farmers. It is opened to all youth who are willing to take up fish farming as a means of self employment. Some of the farmers who spoke to our reporter said that, at least, two new people join the farm every day. However, the trend has slowed for a while because of the difficulty experienced by the youth in assessing finance to join the business.
Rex Nikoro is a graduate of Business Administration and owner of nine fish ponds in the Camp 74 Fish Farm. He produces the feeds he uses in the farm for post fingerlings and juvenile, because the machine he uses cannot produce smaller feeds for the fingerlings. He asserts that the local feed, which he feeds the fish with, are better than foreign ones.
Nikoro told this reporter that the farm is confronted with the problems of theft from people in the neighbouring villagers, forcing them to employ more security personnel to check the activities of the villagers. He added: “We also have problem of flood here during rainy season because the water level would be rising, thereby washing away our fishes.”
He called on government to help subsidise the cost of fish feed, just like it does on fertiliser to crop farmers, or build a feed mill that will produce and bring down the cost of the feeds which, he said, takes 70% of their gain.
Interestingly, Lawrence john, who owns two ponds in the camp told the reporter that they cannot meet the demand of fish in the state, adding that market women are mounting pressure on them to produce more fishes.
The farm, however, welcomes not only graduates, but also civil servants and young school leavers because, according to the farmers, the more persons the farm has, the less the cost of production per unit. This is because they have pulled resources together put in place security measures, supplied electricity to the entire farm and constructed tunnels to check flood and these provisions need to be maintained.
One major challenge the farmers face is the cost of fish feeds which, they say, is expensive. Most of the farmers said after the preliminary stage, they resort to introducing local feeds. That, according to them, is better in terms of cost because the raw materials are sourced locally. John told Daily Trust that the local feeds he produces for his fishes are better than the imported ones.
The Delta state Youth Empowerment Through Agriculture (YETA) programme, farmers support and micro credit programme made initial investment of about N4.5 million in the farm. Government also assisted farmers affected by flood in the state. The farmers said the state government is wooing foreign partners, development agencies and other private investors in the country to facilitate the farming programme.