'How Nigeria can achieve breakthrough in fish production'
17 December 2007NIGERIA - Nigeria can achieve the desired breakthrough in fish production both for domestic consumption and export if fish farmers can embrace modern techniques in fish cultivation.
Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Aquaticulture Projects Limited, Israel Adediran, told BusinessDay in an interview that Nigeria should take a cue from Singapore which has significantly grown its capacity in fish farming as a result of its application of modern aquaculture practice.
"The catfish business has presently gotten to a revolutionary stage with over 55 innovations that have taken place. For instance, when we were in the University, we were taught that catfish would grow to 200grammes in 9 months if you stock at 2 fish per square metres. But today, people stock 300 fish per square metres and still grow their catfish to 1.5kg on the average in 5 months".
"That is why so many people are now showing interest in catfish. Take for instance, Singapore is a like a dot on our map. It is about the size of Bayelsa State in Nigeria with a population of about 3.5million people. Yet, they are responsible for 30 per cent of the world's tropical fish. This makes their airport the second largest cargo airport in the world; and tropical fish is the singular largest airfreight item in Singapore".
"One of the amazing things I discovered that is responsible for the tremendous success that Singapore has recorded in catfish production is, an incredible palm-size , convex glass lens that is used to actually enhance agricultural production. It is called Bio-disc
Source: BusinessDay
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