FG gives committee two months to develop fish production growth strategy

The Federal Government has given a committee eight weeks to draw up a plan for increasing Nigeria’s fish production.

The technical committee, inaugurated by Adegboyega Oyetola, minister of marine and blue economy, on Thursday, will review proposals from a roundtable held with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in October last year.

The new committee has been told to test the recommendations against existing policies, laws and government programmes and decide what should be adopted, changed, studied further or dropped.

Its report, expected by November, will set out the measures needed to increase fish production, estimate their estimate costs, identify sources of funding and responsible government agencies and construct delivery timelines.

The committee is chaired by Fatima Sugra Mahmood, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and includes officials, academics, researchers, fish farmers and representatives of the Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos State University, the Fisheries Society of Nigeria, the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria, the Fisheries Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, the Tilapia Development Association of Nigeria and WorldFish Nigeria.

“Your assignment is not to develop another policy or establish a parallel programme,” Oyetola told the committee.

They will also be expected to identify opportunities for private investment, public-private partnerships and development finance to fund the proposed measures.

Nigeria barely produces half of the 3.2 million metric tons its population demands each year. It imports the rest. Production began picking up last year, rising by 300,000 tons.

Oyetola identified expensive feed, limited access to quality fish seed and broodstock, fish diseases, losses after harvesting and inadequate cold-storage facilities among the main constraints facing the industry.

He also pointed to limited access to affordable finance, weak research and data and gaps in standards and traceability.

“Domestic production remains substantially below national demand, with consequences for food security, household incomes and foreign-exchange resources,” Oyetola said.

Fish is an important source of animal protein in Nigeria and the sector supports businesses in farming, processing, transportation and marketing.

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