By Salisu Sani-Idris
The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Ramatu Aliyu, on Saturday distributed assorted fishery inputs to 2,000 individuals and fishery cooperative groups from the six area councils of the territory.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inputs distributed include fish tanks, feeds, smoking kilns, fishing nets, hooks and liners, cold storage facilities, fish drugs and fingerlings.
Aliyu, while distributing the inputs in Abuja, said it would boost fish production as a means of achieving sustainable food and nutrition security.
She said that the fisheries and aquaculture subsector was one of the fastest growing agricultural ventures in Nigeria, contributing significantly to employment generation, and poverty alleviation in the country.
Others benefits she listed were foreign exchange earnings and a source of raw materials for the animal feeds industry.
“With records showing an increasing global demand for fish which is largely due to its nutritional and health benefits, we see the fish sector as having the capacity to accommodate and empower the teeming population of young educated youths who are trooping into the FCT for white collar jobs which are not readily available,” Aliyu said.
Aliyu said that in spite being faced with challenges of a rapidly growing population, the FCT Administration had been working hard to provide the enabling environment for all to operate and earn meaningful source of livelihood.
“It is against this backdrop that the FCT Administration sustained its support programmes which has resulted to the development of the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
“It is heartwarming to note that the Aquaculture and Trades Centre, Kuka, which was constructed and commissioned in 2022 is delivering on the set objectives.
“So far, the centre has trained and empowered over 1,000 youths and women whose products are sold at different markets within and outside the FCT”.
The minister said the Administration had embarked on the sensitisation and training of fish farmers in the six area councils to promote production of other fish varieties other than the popular catfish.
This, she added, was as a strategy to further harness the opportunities in the sector.
Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, Mandate Secretary Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, said the nation’s capital was endowed with huge natural fisheries resources, as evidenced in its network of rivers, streams, natural and man-made dams.
Ibrahim assured of the secretariat’s commitment to introduce new innovations in the fishery and aquaculture sector.
He said that the secretariat had widened its scope of support from not only the provision of inputs, but also to building the capacities of fish farmers.
According to him, this is to ensure that they can easily transit from household production to commercial production.
“The secretariat has been making efforts at promoting production in new and more commercially viable fish varieties such as Tilapia.
“In achieving this objective, the synergy with stakeholders such as the Catfish Producers Association of Nigeria (CATPAN) has been strengthened.
“We have in collaboration with the association encouraged fish farmers to organise themselves into cooperatives so as to make it easy to access government support programmes,’ he said.
Ibrahim said that the secretariat had within the past one year, trained more than 2,600 fish farmers across the six area councils of the territory.
NAN reports that the highpoint of the event was the presentation of inputs to fish farmers and goodwill messages from other critical stakeholders in the agricultural value chains. (NAN)
