August 7, 2024, Owerri – NIRSAL Plc has completed a midyear training programme for lead farmers and extension agents in the Aquaculture and Cassava value chains across locations in Imo, Sokoto, Kwara, and Oyo States. The programme, aimed at boosting farmers’ capacities to access and repay commercial loans, had over 2,000 participants, with state government representatives also in attendance.

As it continues to promote the Agro Geo-Cooperative® approach to primary production, NIRSAL primarily targets lead farmers with the experience and skill to share new knowledge with members of their various cooperatives for its training programmes.

In Imo State, where no less than 500 participants assembled in two locations—one urban and one rural, the focus was on efficient models for fish production. It was the same in Sokoto State, while the Oyo and Kwara outings focused on cassava. 

Mr. Uche Agabige, Imo State House Committee Chairman on Agriculture, lauded NIRSAL for including Imo in this round of the capacity building programme, with the belief that it would complement local efforts aimed at boosting agricultural productivity in the state. 

Head of Value Chain Capacity Development at NIRSAL Plc, Mr. Ibrahim Suleiman, said that the capacity development programme, which is part of the Technical Assistance offered by NIRSAL to agricultural value chain actors under its Technical Assistance pillar, was happening simultaneously in three other states spanning four Geo-political zones.

According to Mr. Suleiman, lead farmers and extension agents in aquaculture and cassava were similarly gathered at two urban and rural locations in Sokoto, Oyo, and Kwara States, and they are expected to cascade the training to an estimated 6,000 farmers across the states.

The NIRSAL teams received warm reception and commendations in locations, including from the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Akinyele Local Government Chairman in Oyo State, and the Special Adviser to the Kwara State Governor on Farmers’ Interventions, among others.

In addition to the formation of functional cooperatives with proper governance structures, the training programme also discussed readiness for possible protocol breaches and early warning systems. Participants who spoke after the lectures said that they were delighted at the new insights they gained, pledging to share same with members of their various cooperatives.

NIRSAL Plc is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) established to de-risk agriculture and agribusiness financing in Nigeria, with a view to stimulating the flow of finance and investment into the Agricultural Value Chain from multiple sources. Logic for the Imo training exercise is provided by one of the five pillars of NIRSAL—Technical Assistance, under which value chain fixing initiatives are researched, developed, and promoted.

• Govt cultivating over 3,000 hectares for soya bean
• Govt giving seedlings, fertilisers, other inputs to 10,000 farmers

Food security remains a top priority for the Kwara government as billions of naira are invested in different agricultural initiatives this year, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq said on Wednesday.

Abdulrazaq spoke at the government-enabled Kwara Youth Farm in Malete, Moro local government, where at least 1,500 hectares of land are being cultivated for soya bean production this farming season, while over 1,500 hectares more are to be farmed in the coming seasons.

The Governor was taken round the huge farm by Arowojobe Tolulope, the project manager, and Ibrahim Tunji Mukaila, the farm manager at the Malete Youth Farm.

“Apart from many other initiatives, this is to deepen our resolve on food security. I am here to see things for myself and to make sure that the right investments are put in place. I am on site to see that our investment programmes (in agric) are being implemented, and to see the challenges we are facing,” he told reporters on the sideline of the visit.

“I’m impressed with what I’ve seen; it’s very good. We need to do more, and we will continue to do more. This will lead us to a bumper harvest at the end of the season and prepare us for the dry season farming, during which we will certainly escalate things.”

The Governor’s tour of the Malete Farm comes as the administration escalates its support for farmers across the state.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is currently distributing seedlings, fertilisers, and other farm inputs to at least 10,000 farmers.

Recently, the state executive council approved N2.9bn worth of support for farmers — a few weeks after the Governor on June 26 launched the distribution of the fourth phase of agricultural and infrastructural assets under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme, targeting over 600,000 beneficiaries across different categories in the 16 local government areas.

Limiting challenges and untapped potential

Fish provides essential nutrition for 3.3 billion people in the world. Both primary fisheries and aquaculture employ 58.5 million people globally. Somehow, the potential of the fish farming value chain in Nigeria was largely untapped until recently.



In the past six years, there has been a significant leap in production, employment generation and overall economic contributory levels of the sector – thanks to Olam Agri’s investment drive and the efforts by the Federal Government and relevant global agencies.



The company’s investment journey in Nigeria’s aquaculture sector began in 2017 through its integrated feed milling unit. In that period the challenges confronting the sector were enormous. Matthew Tan, a global expert on aquaculture who was engaged to work with the local fish farmers that year identified some of the challenges associated with the sector as unsustainable husbandry and poor feeding practices among farmers, inbreeding problems, lack of water monitoring capability and lack of basic biosecurity.



Consequently, the local Feed Conversation Ratio (FCR) and hatchery mortality rate were high. Brood stock growth phases and harvest sizes were poor due to the alarming inefficiency in the sector, a result of a rooted knowledge gap.



Corroborating the poor state of the sector in that period, Olawale Onada, the Regional Technical Manager for the Olam Agri feed milling unit covering Southwest 1, said, “Farmers had low knowledge of trendy pond management techniques. They were ignorant of pond PC and water measurement parameters. They lacked pond disease management knowledge. They didn’t know that it was important to test their water before they started farming. They believed that once there was a pond they could go ahead and start farming.  Therefore, the pond mortality rate was high. The pond yield was low, and their farm yield and return on investment were badly affected.”

A timely intervention

Olalere Ambali, an aquaculture technical executive who also works with Olam Agri’s feed milling unit explained, “When we started working with the farmers, a good number of them were using traditional feed which had low nutritional value. Also, most of the farm clusters we visited initially had ponds that had high ammonia levels causing high breed mortality. The technical inputs in the fish farms were poor.”



The aquaculture sector underperformed regardless of past policy interventions and public-private investment efforts until Olam Agri’s feed milling unit deployed its broad technical and milling capabilities to address the various hurdles negating growth. Capturing the pre-2017 state of the sector further, a research work by Delta State University put the total production output in the country at a ‘meagre 200,000’ despite the availability of 1.75 million hectares of arable land suitable for fish farming around the country.



The inefficiencies in the sector compounded the issues around food security. According to the report, whereas fish products provide around 60% of the required daily protein intake for rural adults in the country, the poor performance of the aquaculture sector meant a larger segment of the population was only able to access 8 grams daily animal protein intake against the 35 grams recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).



To arrest the sector’s inefficiencies, the global expert engaged by Olam Agri and a team of trained local technical staff embarked on fish farm cluster engagements across the country.

A sector on a resurgence

Speaking about Olam Agri’s engagements Matthew Tan, the expert, said, “The global aquaculture sector is expected to grow at 5.5 percent CAGR reaching USD 421.2 billion in 2030. Nigeria has always had a huge potential to tap this growing market to improve its food security and economic position. We saw the potential in the country’s aquaculture sector in 2017. We decided to work with the local fish farmers to alleviate the challenges hampering growth. We developed a set of training and farming protocols for farmers in the country. We conducted hundreds of training sessions with thousands of farmers in attendance.”



He expatiated, “Hundreds of farming co-operatives participated in our training programs. Over time as farmers began to implement the knowledge gleaned through the training, we started to see improvements in pond survival and final harvest in the farming community across the country. The growth in the aquaculture sector underlines the value of Olam Agri’s Seeds for the Future (SFTF) initiative. The SFTF is the agribusiness social sustainability investment vehicle. It focuses on five key levers, which are supporting farmers and farming communities, enabling broader education & skill development for young people, empowering women (farmers & bakers), promoting health & nutrition, and reducing carbon emissions in business operations.”



Olawale and Olalere who were part of Olam Agri’s executive technical team captured the experience. Olawale said, “Immediately we entered a community we identified new prospects that needed technical inputs. For instance, at the Asejere and Kajola fish farm clusters located in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, two of the largest fish farm clusters in West Africa, we introduced the farmers to the best global fish farm management practices comprising hatchery management, PC collection, feed and feeding management, water quality management and disease management. We ran trials on their farms to give them first-hand knowledge of these best management practices.  They have been able to adopt these practices and confirmed improvements in their yield and incomes.”



He added that farmers who previously had 20 ponds were able to grow their businesses to expand to around 40 ponds because of adopting the knowledge and tools delivered by the team.



Also, Olalere reiterated the impact of the company’s business investment efforts making mention of how it produced and delivered quality fish feed that aided the growth of brood stock, reduced pond mortality rate and farms’ cost of production.



Olam Agri’s animal feed brands comprising EcoFloat, Blue Crown, Aqualis and Alpha are full-floating freshwater fish feed. The brands are specifically tailored to the needs of the African catfish and farming practices in Nigeria. They are rich in amino and protein balance; thereby fostering faster fish stock growth. The brands presently offer balanced nutrition for best-in-class feed conversion ratios to more than 15,000 local fish farmer businesses in the country.

Attesting to growth in the fish farming value chain, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in 2021 that Nigeria has been able to achieve the production of over 1 million metric tons of fish annually. It put the estimated value of the country’s annual production at USD 2.6 billion. The catfish value chain was said to offer employment to around 1 million people while the estimated number of fish farmers increased to 285,000.



Acknowledging Olam Agri’s investment efforts in the value chain, Oropo Abiola, a fish farmer who operates in the Kajola fish farm cluster in Ijebu Ode, said, “Olam Agri came to our farm cluster and trained us on pond water management techniques, how to test PH level in the pond, and ways to curb feed waste. They helped us understand the science of catfish farming, especially how to create the right environment for the fish to thrive. These efforts have really impacted our businesses.”



Odafi Lazarus, a fish farmer in the Asejere farm cluster expatiated, “What Olam Agri is contributing to the industry is huge. When the business’ Eco-Float feed was introduced to us, we were able to cut waste and lower production costs in a way. The floating feed helps us measure livestock consumption. The feed floats, unlike the sinking pallet that goes down deep into the pond where we don’t know if the fish are consuming everything or not.”



Olatoye Fajimi, the Vice President of the Lagos State Catfish & Allied Farmers Association, who also runs a fish farm in the Itamaga fish farm cluster of Ikorodu, said, “Since feed is one of the most important inputs in fish farming, Olam Agri increased the availability of feed to farmers. They are helping farmers gain access to feed in an instant by localizing their production in key hubs here in Nigeria. They also employ technical experts as salespeople who go around to visit farms to work with the farmers to improve farm clusters productivity.”