WorldFish, an international research organisation that harnesses the potential of fisheries and aquaculture to reduce global hunger and poverty is considering establishing a research centre in Nigeria to develop fish farming and aquaculture production.
David Sheare, director-International Partnership, WorldFish stated this during a two day international stakeholders workshop in Abuja recently.
In a statement made available to BusinessDay, Sheare said that the wish of the organisers of the workshop is to see necessary modalities developed for the establishment of a Nigerian Worldfish Development Centre.
He explained that any country desirous of making success of its development programme must pay attention to priority, partnership and pipeline.
In his keynote address, Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for Agriculture assured Nigerians that the government is poised to develop fish farming and aquaculture in Nigeria in order to overcome malnutrition and create wealth for women and young people.
Lokpobiri commended WorldFish for selecting Nigeria as a focal country in his research development programme.
“As you know, Nigeria is a large fish consuming nation and a net importer of fish and fisheries products,” Lokpobiri said.
Nigeria’s current fish production is put at 1.03million metric tons, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The country’s annual fish demand is estimated at 3.4 million MT, implying that the country has a demand-supply gap of 2.4 million MT.
In his welcome address, Muhammed Muazu, director-fisheries and aquaculture, Federal Ministry of Agriculture described the country as the largest producer of catfish; hoping that with the capacity that will brought to the country by WorldFish, Nigeria will soon become a force to be reckoned with in area of tilapia production.
Josephine Okojie
