In the 1980s, shrimp was a multi-million dollar industry in Nigeria.The industry is now facing enormous challenges. But, plans are afoot to revive the once-thriving industry to enable Nigeria take a share of the growing shrimp market, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
The global shrimp market is projected to cross $24 billion by 2026. According to Research And Markets.com, growing income level and rising demand for shrimp products across the globe is driving market.
Consequently, governments are encouraging shrimp production by giving incentives and fiscal reliefs to farmers. Although the aquaculture sector in Nigeria has been growing, the shrimp sub-sector has shown a worrying slowdown in the last five years – a trend that must be reversed.
For analysts, it has not been good for the sector. The major limiting factors included growing competition from foreign fishing vessels and the difficulty of accessing affordable loans for aquaculture projects.
There has also been the perception that the shrimp business is technically complex and capital-intensive and there is no appropriate legislation to ensure the sustained growth of the sector.
The COVID-19 pandemic further more complicated the poor state of the industry with the restrictive measures that were introduced to contain the spread of the virus. The outcome has been very worrying for the sector’s future and its potential contribution to food security and nutrition.
In 2019, Nigeria imported $1.15 billion of seafood, according to the United States’ Department of Commerce.
Also, the country’s yearly average shrimp and prawn production is pegged at 12,000 metric tonnes (MT).
Lagos Commissioner for Agriculture Ms Abisola Olusanya,said the yearly demand for fish in the state was 374,000 tonnes, below the state’s 155,000 tonnes of production.
The supply deficit,according to her, provides the state with a valuable investment opportunity.
With support, she said, the sector could contribute more export revenue than the 25 billion naira (£49 billion) which was earned from the export of shrimp and smoked fish in 2019.
To promote shrimp industry growth, trawler fishing plays an important part.
At moment, the trawling subsector provides livelihoods and food for millions of people in coastal communities as well as feed for the region’s growing aquaculture sector.
Since the industry is already well-established, she continued that the Lagos Government wants to work with operators to implement various measures to support trawl fisheries to be involved in harvesting shrimp in the deep waters.
Indeed, support will be given to investors to increase the number of trawlers working around Lagos coastal waters.
This, the commissioner for Agriculture expects, will have major impact in growing industrial shrimp trawling.
She reiterated that there was a great potential to tap into, through the application of science, technology, innovation, as well as through improved policy frameworks.
She said the state government, in partnership with a private investor, would establish the Lagos Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (LACE) to drive fish production.
According to her, the centre will have a hatchery with a capacity to produce 50 million fish – enough to supply 5,000 smallholder farms. It will also include a 24,000-tonne feed mill and a 20,000-tonne capacity fish processing centre.
Presently, stakeholders have expressed concerns that Nigerian waters are still least monitored.
Nigeria loses a whopping sum of $2.3 billion annually to activities of poachers on its high seas,due to the country’s inability to police its waters,according to Institute of Oceanograpy and Marine Research.
Like other sub sectors of the industry,illegal shrimp fishing is harming livelihoods and food supplies.
Fisheries expert, Prof Martins Antekhai and local shrimp producers are banking on the government support to sustain the industry’s growth.
Currently, most local operators are small and medium players.
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