Author: Phlippages
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo seems to also be on the receiving end of what many Nigerians are facing when he, on Tuesday, lamented on the high cost of diesel, feeds as well as exchange rate in the country.
The former president said he has been sweating because high cost of diesel have been taking toll on his fish production.
He spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during South-West Fish Farmers’ Congress held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL).
Obasanjo noted that the rise in cost of diesel as well as constant increase in prices of fish feeds will eventually run Nigerian fish farmers out of business except they come together to agree on sustainable prices that could be adopted to keep them in business.
According to him, farmers can no longer be producing at the mercy of the buyers who would come around to buy the fish for whatever amount that suited them.
He said many buyers do not take into account the effect of the current economic outcome on the production of such fishes. He explained that with current price of diesel at N800 per litre, production of a kilogramme of fish is N1,400.
According to him, in order to make very marginal profit, the farmers can’t sell less than N1,500 as anything short of that amounts to outright loss.
He said, “The price of diesel has gone high because the management of this country is not what it should be.
And it is as simple as that. Then, what will happen is that, particularly those of us who have to use a bit of diesel in producing fish, we will completely go bankrupt, and when that happens, Nigerians will still have to eat fish.
“Fish production will be out of reach and then, people will be producing fish outside Nigeria and be dumping it here. And you will go jobless, poor and indigent.
“So, what do we have to do? To come together…we want to sustain fish production and we must be able to take care of those who are going to eat and those of us who are producing.”
Turning to the farmers, he asked, “How many of you are using diesel in your production? Because I use diesel and I’m already sweating.
I’m already sweating.” The President of South- West Fish Farmers Price Sustainability Group, Amo Tunbosun Amo, disclosed that the country currently consumes around 3.6 million metric tons of fish annually but only produce 1.12 million tons leaving a balance of 2.6 million tons to be imported.
Amo explained that one of the major challenges confronting the fish farmers is the continued increase in the prices of inputs in the production of fish and majorly the feed and the refusal of the buyers to buy the fish at commensurate price.
He said, “This is the essence of this gathering, we find out that we have to take our destiny in our hands, we can’t continue to produce and be at the mercy of the buyers, we felt we need to come around and do something for ourselves.
We are starting with South-West and in a matter of time it will be all over the country.”
The convener of the congress, Steve Okeleji, said the fish farmers have decided to come together to rescue the industry.
Okeleji said, “We have to come together to see how we can rescue our industry. It’s now very obvious to us that if we don’t do something fast, the aquaculture industry in Nigeria will be submerged.
“If everything were to be right with our economy, this congress wouldn’t have been necessary. “So, the farmers must be heard.
We are also virtually key players in the industry. In fact, we play important role across the value chain of the industry.
But the major challenge we have over time is that we are not able to speak with one voice.”
