Nigeria’s agriculture has long been known to hold great promise and has historically been the country’s major source of revenue and foreign exchange earner.
In the 1960s and 70s agriculture was Nigeria’s main driver of economic growth and development. However, the discovery of crude oil a few years after Nigeria’s independence changed its agricultural narratives, prompting the country to lag in the production of almost all food crops and commodities.
However, succour came when the government began making efforts to tap opportunities across the agricultural value chains to create millions of jobs and earn foreign exchange amid shortages.
As a result, the government began stimulating social-economic development through agriculture and crucial in its drive is the Agro Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project – a World Bank-assisted initiative, implemented through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in six participating states – Lagos, Cross River, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, and Kogi.
It is a six-year project expected to run between 2017 and 2023. Within six years of introducing the APPEALS project in Lagos – home to roughly 22 million people, the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers across the poultry, aquaculture, and rice value chains has been enhanced.
For aquaculture, APPEALS Lagos has exposed fish farmers to modern practices, enhanced their access to quality feeds, improved brood stock, bridged infrastructural gaps, and provided them with viable financing among others.
One of the modern aquaculture practices introduced to fish farmers in the state under the project is cage culture – a practice that involves growing fish in existing water resources while being enclosed in a net cage that allows free flow of water.
The technology enable fish farmers to tap opportunities in Lagos’s vast network of aquatic resources and extensive coastline while also boosting their productivity.
Nigeria’s aquaculture production is predominantly pond-based (earthen or concrete), due to their relatively low cost. The pond-based infrastructure isn’t allowing fish farmers to fully tap opportunities in tilapia production, according to experts because tilapia breeds intermittently.
But with the cage culture technology introduced by APPEALS Lagos, farmers in the state are now tapping opportunities in the production of the fish. The project has enabled them to boost productivity and expand their markets.
“Tilapia is not new but most farmers did not get it right when farming it because what they were doing was raising it in earthen ponds or concrete ponds,” said Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, project coordinator of APPEALS Lagos at a recent farm tour.
“Tilapia breed intermittently and this makes most of the fries in small ponds not mature in due time,” she said.
To address the problem, she said APPEALS Lagos partnered with the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research and the National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research in New Bussa to develop a monosex culture of tilapia.
She noted that over 180 cages have been built, promoted and concentrated on two water bodies in Afowo and Epe areas of Lagos.
“Today beyond even the Lagos state investments, some private investors have come here to set up their cages,” she said.
“People come from Benin, Togo, and Ghana to buy our fish. When we talk about food security, I think we are moving at the right step.
She said through the Lagos APPEALS project, aquaculture, poultry, and rice farmers in various clusters across communities had been supported with good access roads, farm inputs, cages, water tank treatment plants, and cottages to preserve freshness.
