Nigeria Can Maximize Fish Production For Export ― FUTA Don
For Nigeria to achieve self-sufficiency in fish production and leverage its vast ocean resource for export, it needs to adopt relevant technologies that will lead to a reduction in the cost of fish feed.
A Professor of Fish Nutrition, Oluwayemisi Adeparusi, gave this recommendation while delivering the 142nd Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Akure,entitled ‘Feeding Fish: An Art’.
Professor Adeparusi said to improve the quality and quantity of fish production in Nigeria, “there is a need to reduce fish feed cost using locally available ingredients that are sustainable; improve their storage through preservation, and teach fish farmers how to bring such ingredients together.”
The lecturer said the route to take to change the fortune of the Nigerian fish farming sector is to first bring down the high and sometimes prohibitive cost of fish feed.
She recommended the establishment of feed design laboratory and functional high technology feed mill for fish in different institutions in parts of the country, especially in areas where fish farming is prevalent.
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Such laboratory, she noted, would lead practical research and become centres for innovation and sustainability in the animal feed sector with companies and partners from within and outside actively participating in the building and running of such edifice with shared interest and profits.
Adeparusi said because of the growing incidence of droughts worsened by climate change, the stability of agricultural systems has been affected.
She said it has therefore become imperative to look for alternative sources of protein in feeding fish by farmers.
Adeparusi, a former appointee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Commission on Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), also recommended the adoption and usage of solar energy to replace the epileptic power supply and improvement of water quality to prevent pest infestation.
Adeparusi, the first female professor in FUTA’s School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SAAT), also called for the establishment of consultancy opportunities for fish farmers in higher institutions like FUTA where students can learn and gain practical skills and exposure for capacity building for the future.
The vice-chancellor, Professor Joseph Fuwape, who chaired the occasion, described the lecturer as an asset to the university.
He described Professor Adeparusi as a leading light and mentor to upcoming academics in her field of study, and commended the excellent delivery and knowledge shared to would-be fish farmers.
