On february 2018 President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the re-appointment of Olusegun Awolowo as NEPC CEO.

Govt boosts aquaculture-fishing sector backward integration

NIGERIA
Saturday, July 21, 2018, 02:00 (GMT + 9)

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced that major fish importers in the country have heeded the Federal Government’s directive to engage in backward integration of fishing through commercial aquaculture and production of fish for export.

The announcement was made by Deputy Director of the Ministry Pwaspo Emmanuel in the framework of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) sensitisation forum for processed fish practitioners held in Lagos, PUNCH reported.

The Deputy Director listed Atlantic Shrimpers, Premium Aquaculture and Triton Aqua Africa as some of the companies going into backward integration in aquaculture.

“These fish farmers and others that are duly certified can now export their fish and fish products,” he said.

In addition, he stated that letters of assurance had been given to investors intending to go into deep sea fishing and exploitation of tuna and others for export.

“Nigeria is blessed with a lot of tuna resources. So, investors who want to key into the Federal Government’s policies on aquaculture can come to the Federal Department of Fisheries and pick up letters of assurance to go into deep sea fishing and exploitation,” Emmanuel stated.

The forum was also attended by Chief Executive Officer, NEPC Olusegun Awolowo, who stressed that the demand for dried/processed fish by Nigerians and Africans abroad was high and driven by the crave for local meals and valuable sources of protein.

Awolowo said that in Nigeria the challenge encountered in the quest to export smoked/dried fish had been the inappropriate smoking method adopted by the local processors using firewood, resulting in high occurrence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon in the final product, said to be carcinogenic.

“Poor quality of packaging is also another challenge. This results in reject and restriction of smoked fish product from Nigeria particularly to the European Union and the United States of America,” he highlighted.

In his view, these challenges can be addressed by adopting appropriate smoking and packaging processes.

“We also intend to address the appropriate method of smoking fish for the international market through compliance and adherence to international best practices,” he concluded.
 
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