The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has restated commitment to transform the fishery sector to become a cash cow for farmers in the territory.
The mandate secretary for the FCTA Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, made the pledge at the commemoration of the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) in the FCT, held in Abuja.
“As you are aware, the United Nations, declared 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries (IYAFA) with the objective of drawing global attention to the important role that small-scale fish farmers and fish workers play in human well-being, food security, poverty eradication and in the sustainable use of natural resources.
“Member nations are expected to use the occasion to show commitment and take practical actions to support and promote fishery activities.
“The event we are therefore witnessing today is consistent with that worthy declaration as well as the theme of the event which is Building a Global Safety Net for Small-scale Artisanal Fisheries & Aquaculture.”
He expressed readiness of the secretariat to continue to advocate and pursue the implementation of innovative programmes that would help in enhancing effective utilisation of the rich water bodies that abound in the FCT.
He said there was no gainsaying the fact that fish was a very important agricultural product that was largely consumed due to its rich nutritional and medicinal values.
“It is therefore not a surprise that the sector is growing at an alarming rate as more and more Nigerians engage in fish production, not just for the nutritional value, but economic benefits associated with it.
“It is estimated that a very large percentage of Nigerians, mostly youth venture into fishery production annually. While this scenario would have been seen as a positive development, the sad narrative is the fact that more than 90 per cent of these farmers still operate at subsistent and small-scale levels.”
He said fish farmers in Nigeria lack the professional expertise and investable funds to enable them acquire quality inputs required to help transit easily from household to commercial production to bridge the yawning gap between demand and supply and reduce the huge foreign exchange that was spent on fish importation.
“These are some of the issues that the programmes of the secretariat are aimed at addressing. The story of Fisheries Development in the FCT is one that is characterised by steady growth and improvements in terms of production capacity, quality processing and access to markets and competitiveness.
“Part of the strategies that we have adopted is to encourage local fish farmers organise themselves as a body so they can more easily benefit from the various fisheries support programmes of the secretariat.
