Oyetola woos investors to Nigeria’s catfish industry, cites 2.2m tonnes supply gap

Résumé détaillé

Adegboyega Oyetola, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, has called on investors and financial institutions to take advantage of Nigeria’s ...

Adegboyega Oyetola, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, has called on investors and financial institutions to take advantage of Nigeria’s catfish industry, citing an annual fish supply deficit of about 2.2 million metric tonnes as a major opportunity for investment, job creation and economic growth.

Oyetola made the call at a high-level roundtable on Scaling Sustainable Catfish Value Chain Transformation, organized under the FISH4ACP program on Wednesday in Abuja.

The minister said Nigeria’s annual fish requirement stood at approximately 3.6 million metric tonnes, while domestic production from all sources was estimated at 1.4 million metric tonnes, leaving a supply gap of about 2.2 million metric tonnes.

He described the deficit as both a challenge to national food security and an opportunity for investors to expand domestic production, reduce import dependence and develop a more competitive aquaculture industry.

According to him, Nigeria is already Africa’s second-largest aquaculture producer and a leading producer of farmed African catfish, giving the country a strong foundation to attract investment and scale up production.

“Expanding domestic fish production is an economic and food security imperative. It offers an opportunity to strengthen domestic food supply, reduce dependence on fish imports, stimulate enterprise development and create sustainable livelihoods across the country,” he said.

Oyetola identified several investment opportunities across the catfish value chain, including hatcheries, feed mills, equipment manufacturing, transportation, processing, cold-chain infrastructure and trading.

He noted that investment in aquaculture would generate benefits beyond fish farming by creating demand for inputs, logistics, processing services and other supporting businesses.

“Investment in aquaculture has a multiplier effect, creating opportunities and value across several interconnected sectors of the economy,” the minister said.

Début de l'article, extrait de BusinessDay. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.