IFAD agric stimulation in progress: High cost of feeds drags fish farmers

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has continued to push for food security in Nigeria especially in the Niger Delta with a $60m war chest. On a visit to one of their centres in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on the eve of Christmas, high cost of feed for fish stood out as a major challenge to the incubates.

The testimony of George Wongifie Awu from Ofoni area of Yenagoa revealed that fish farming holds big prospects but requires attention in some critical joints of the process.

Awu was one of the idle youths until a call came through from someone he calls his leader that some people were coming to their community. They happened to be from the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project in the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND).

He said: “They came and assembled a lot of crowd at the community square. They gave us some form, we filled, and fortunately, my name made it. That is how I ended up becoming an incubatee on the Life-ND programme.

“This was two years ago, but my training was about two months. I decided to stay longer to push further.

“Upon graduation, I was given some capital and starter pack in the form of juveniles and some feed; 1000, 50 bags of feed and N200,000 to keep buying.”

Read also: LIFE-ND agric projects in Akwa Ibom raise hope for IFAD intervention in Nigeria’s food security drive

Success story:

The fatherless young man said he suffered initial losses due to his father’s death, plus limited education. “My incubator (boss), Mrs Juliet Amakoromo, brought me closer under her like a son and showed me the way, especially marketing. I suffered death of 50 birds.

“I pushed hard and with the money, I decided to stock more. That’s where I am. I have done two cycles. I feed them to table size and market people come to pick them up. I spent N375,000 and sold N980,000. You need to be perfect in the business to stock plenty. So, am taking it gradually.”

Challenge:

“Due to high cost of feeds, I incurred up to 35% loss due to poor feeding. We also have water quality problem due to the pH of water. Iron is much in water in this part of the city.

“My stock is neither increasing nor decreasing. I am trying to maintain what I have. I am fatherless and I try to maintain my mother. She’s into agriculture too.”

Background:

The LIFE-ND project is jointly funded by the Federal Government, through a loan from the IFAD, with additional support from Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and counterpart funds from the participating state governments.

The nine participating states are: Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Delta, Ondo (funded with IFAD), and Akwa-Ibom, Imo, and Rivers States (funded by NDDC). Notably, the project’s headquarters is located in PH.

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