Pastor Bolaji Ige is the Chief Executive Officer of Pastor Ige Farms Limited based in Kwara state. In this interview with JOHN OBA, he explains that small businesses in Nigeria cannot meet the requirement to register their products with NAFDAC, even as he applauds the effect of government policies on the fish sector. Excerpts.
How did you start your business, were you a beneficiary of the GES programme of the Ministry of Agriculture?
Though I am not a beneficiary of the GES, but I benefited from another form of programme tagged: “Fish farming estate” programme of the ministry, it was a Private Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
Can you explain what value that programme added to your business?
Yes. I have been able to improve my farm capacity from 1000 to 50,000 fishes in two years and I have come to a point where I am going into value addition because I have so much to sell, we are now doing frozen cat fish, smoke cat fish. Frozen uses the quick fish technology. That is the same kind of technology used for the same frozen fishes that we buy from overseas, so that it is about to maintain the same quality as fresh fish. The value addition started since October 2014, that was when we started our experience.
Are people aware of your value addition?
Yes, that is why we are participating in the agrifest, and lot of people have seen our products and many are still going to know about it.What is the advantage of this new technology to your business?
The advantage of our value addition is that one, as a farmer I am not under pressure to see my products, because it has been processed and they can be stored till a favourable market comes. Also I can take my products from one point to another like I brought it to Abuja now without much stress.
And when we talk about profit margin, I sell the fish to my processing plant at a reasonable cost. At a cost that most middle men would not buy it, then I process it and add some extra cost to it for the value added. So it is more profitable for me as a processor.
Some times, fish preservation may be up to six months one year, so can you give assurance that you will stay that long?
Yes, if kept in the freezer, it will stay for six months.
So, is your fish ready for exportation?
Yes, but there have to be an improvement before we export it, because the kind of fish we export, is not cut, so we have to exploit that angle but now we are exploiting the local market. Because we are trying to create a package that someone who is busy can just pick up a pack, get home and use it within 15 to 20 minutes. They are not going to be looking at how to clean the fish because we have cleaned it, just take it and put it in your soup and you get the same value if not more.
How about the hygienic aspect of the preparation?
Yes, we have a processing plant that is standard, well screened, no flies, no insects, because the normal problem of fish processing is flies, so our unit is screened. We have constant water for washing and those involved are properly trained to do the job.
For those of you who are fish farmers, one of the main concerns of veterinary council is the application of drugs on the fishes. They complained that for profitability reason some don’t allow the drugs to take the number of days prescribed before harvesting for selling. To them the residues in the fish is cancerous when consumed by human. So are you taking care to avoid this?
We have tried to work against that, there is a standard for this, and that is the beauty of processing. When you are processing fish, you know you have a period of time. Usually, most drugs, within 14 days, they are done, so if you know that you want to process the fish in 14 days from now, you stop any forms of medications before the time, so by the time 14 days elapse, you can now process your fish.
But if you are selling live fish, you don’t know when the buyer will come, you may medicate your fish yesterday and they come today and if you tell him come in 14 days, he may not need it then.
But with a processing unit, you are able to programme yourself well, you process it and keep it, that is best practices, you always give room to avoid residue effects.
Are your products NAFDAC approved?
No, the only kind of approval we have now is what the Federal Department of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development gives because fish processing in Nigeria is at a toddler stage there have been some allowance and the requirement for NAFDAC approval will crush any upcoming fish business. Once you are able to maintain some certain level of hygiene, its okay. They wouldn’t give you a NAFDAC number but they wouldn’t pressurise you.
Can you explain further?
NAFDAC would ask you what is obtainable in the USA for a small fish farmer, there is an analysis that for you to get NAFDAC number to be able to process fish reasonably you need about N5 million, what happened if you put that in you business, that will come at a time when you can do that but for the stage of our country now, upcoming people don’t need that much and I think the government has come to appreciate that so NAFDAC is not serious at implementing it.
Now, in the fish business nationwide, would you say this administration has achieved a lot?
I will speak for myself and for the people around my place, I see fish farming taking a centre stage in the state within the next two years. I have been in fish farming for six years, this is my seventh year, but the progress I have made in the past two years as a result of my involvement in the present administration, they have made impact in my farm as well as others around me.
Are you involve in only fish farming?
I am a Minister of God, a Pastor of a Church, this is my business.
What are the challenges fish farmers are faced with that needs to be addressed?
Because of my background as a minister, I view things from more of a divine angle. Every challenged you face is an opportunity; you only need wisdom to know how to take advantage of it. If I talk from the angle of what I have benefited from, I was busy doing the work I was doing when the government identified me. I don’t go to the government, they saw that I know what I was doing and that I was committed to it and they gave some input to enhance my work.
So the advice I will give to anyone is that they should be committed to whatever they are doing.
How would you envision the fish sector in the next two, three years?
I want to see a community of people who practice their faith in agriculture.
