An assessment of aquaculture table-size fish farmers activities in Kainji Lake Basin, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed aquaculture table-size fish farmer’s activities in the Kainji Lake basin, Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined aquaculture  activities in the area, assessed market information, channels and support organizations, and identified the major constraints to aquaculture table- size fish farming in the area. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 table-size fish farmers. Primary data were collected with a questionnaire and presented using descriptive statistics. The result shows that majority of the respondents were males (82.1%), with mean age of 36.7 years, 53.8% had tertiary educational qualification while 66.7% had more than six years’ experience in fish farming. Majority (92%) of the table-size fish farmers operate with less than two ponds, 51% practice earthen pond system, while 91% of the farmers engage in the business for the purpose of generating income. Majority (90%) of the farmers sell their farmed fish after six months, 80% of the sales take place at farm-gate level, 80% of the owners of the fish farms are contacted directly by fish buyers. Also, majority (53.8%) of the fish buyers are the middle men who buy and resell to other fish users (processors, consumers, farmers etc). The major constraints to table-size fish farming were inadequate capital (46.2%), poor water management (33.3%), high cost of feed (10.3%) and poor pricing (10.3%). It is therefore recommended that fish farmers should form  strong Farmer Associations to enable them combat the issues of accessing capital and poor pricing. This will aid in business expansion as the farmers will take advantage of economy of scale.

Key words: aquaculture, table-size, fish, farmers