FG introduced fish storage, processing, marketing project to increase shelf life – Minister

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Muhammed Abubakar has stated that the Federal Government has introduce measures such as fish storage, processing, marketing project to increase shelf life so as to enable the fisheries subsector gain the desired prominence.

Abubakar assured that the fisheries and Aquaculture subsector is very significant to the Nigerian economy in terms of employment creation, income generation, poverty alleviation, foreign exchange earnings and provision of raw materials for the animal feed industry.

Addressing delegates at the just concluded the Internal Coordination Meeting Among Departments of the African Union Commission (AUC) in Abuja recently, Abubakar said over 10 million Nigerians are actively engaged in primary and secondary fisheries operations, creating wealth for the farmers.

He said other measures introduced include fish storage, processing and  marketing Project to increase shelf life/ keeping quality and curtail post-harvest losses of Fish and Fishery Products; establishment of Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) in Lagos and Abuja to monitor and control Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing along Nigeria Continental Shelf; Fish Farm Clusters to increase Fish production and engage the teeming youths and women and Lake Enhancement Project to increase Fish Production and make for sustainable livelihood for the Fisher folks.

“Nigeria’s total demand for Fish is 3.6 Million tons annually while we are producing 1.1 million tons from all sources (Artisanal, aquaculture,  and Industrial sectors) leaving a deficit of about 2.5 million tons that my ministry is working hard in collaboration with the private sector to supplement by way of import reduction through backward integration.

“To boost local production in order to reduce imports, Government is encouraging backward integration through commercial aquaculture production (pond and cage culture) for local consumption and export and this is yielding positive results,” he said.

Also, the Director, Dr. Nick Nwankpa, the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) while welcoming the delegates said the project is a specialized technical office of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE)of the