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In Nigeria, aquaculture is proving its extraordinary potential to create business and employment opportunities, including jobs for women and young people.
Demand for aquatic foods has long been high here in Africa’s most populous country, where fish makes up 37 percent of people’s animal protein intake.
A recent analysis of Nigeria’s catfish sector led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has shown just how important it is, estimating annual production value of the African catfish species at some USD 2.6 billion.
Nurudeen Qadri, a 38-year-old fish farmer, runs a fish farm with ten ponds near Ijebu-Ode, in southwest Nigeria. With an annual production of nearly 50 tonnes, he says that farming catfish is the best bet for him.
SOUNDBITE (English), Nurudeen Qadri, Nigerian fish farmer, “It’s a very profitable business and that’s [this is] the only business I’m doing, and it gives me money to at least sustain myself and my family.”
High demand for one of Africa's most commercially important freshwater fish species benefits the whole catfish value chain. Processors use ovens to cook the slices of catfish and then sell them to customers in food markets.
Mary Stephens and her husband sell their smoked catfish in Onitsha, a town by the Niger river.
SOUNDBITE (English), Mary Stephens, fish processor and businesswoman, “We go to distribute fish [to Onitsha]. People travelling, even from London, some of them, come there and buy the goods from us.”
Nigeria is already the world’s largest producer of the African catfish, but the overall amount of production could be even higher than officially reported, according to the value chain analysis by a joint fisheries and aquaculture development programme called FISH4ACP. This programme is a partnership of FAO with the European Union, the Government of Germany, and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
FAO and its partners are helping Nigerian fish farmers professionalize the catfish sector. The goal is to improve productivity and competitiveness, expand business opportunities for women and youth, and make catfish farming more sustainable from a social, environmental and economic perspective.
One of the early challenges of the project was assessing the actual size of Nigeria’s catfish production. The estimates signal that the country could have the largest aquaculture sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, says Gilles van de Walle, Chief Technical Adviser of FISH4ACP.
SOUNDBITE (English), FAO’s Gilles van de Walle, Chief Technical Adviser, FISH4ACP, “The current production levels are potentially 3 to 4 times higher than was previously thought. So potentially, we are talking about a really huge sector which would make the Nigerian catfish sector one of the largest [aquaculture sectors] in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Global production of farmed aquatic animals in 2021 reached a record of almost 91 million tonnes — nearly half of the world’s total fisheries and aquaculture production.
Manuel Barange, FAO Assistant Director General and Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, explains that aquaculture represents a huge opportunity for job creation, economic growth, and food and nutrition security worldwide.
SOUNDBITE (English), Manuel Barange, Director of the Fisheries Aquaculture Division at FAO, “Aquaculture in particular is the fastest growing food production system around the world. In Zambia, for example, aquaculture has grown by a factor of 15 from the year 2000 to now. In Ecuador, is the same number, fifteen times. In Viet Nam, is 10 times. So, that provides huge opportunities for people to get into the job market. Youth and women, in particular, are very important.”
Acquaculture is a good example of how water truly is food, and sustains life globally — as the theme for this year’s World Food Day reminds us.
The consumption of aquatic food is growing at twice the rate of global population growth, according to Barange. Efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable aquatic food systems are crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he says.
FISH4ACP programme has projects in twelve countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
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Shotlist:
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STORY: NIGERIA / IMPROVING LIVELIHOODS THROUGH AQUACULTURE
TRT: 3’39’’
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DATELINE: ROME, ITALY 28 SEPTEMBER 2023 / RECENT
SHOTLIST:
DATELINE: 2 MAY 2023, IJEBU-ODE, NIGERIA
1. Wide shot, workers in a catfish pond
2. Med shot, woman collecting catfish from a net
3. Med shot, catfish collection
4. Tilt up, woman touching catfish
5. Close up, catfish in a bucket
6. Drone shot, catfish ponds in Ijebu-Ode
7. Wide shot, a catfish pond
8. Med shot, Nurudeen Qadri feeding catfish
9. Close up, catfish scrambling for food
10. SOUNDBITE (English), Nurudeen Qadri, Nigerian fish farmer, “It’s a very profitable business and that’s [this is] the only business I’m doing, and it gives me money to at least sustain myself and my family.”
11. Wide shot, worker cutting catfish
12. Med shot, catfish slices being cooked
13. Wide shot, young boy and girl at an oven
14. Med shot, smoked catfish sold in a market
15. Close up, smoked catfish
16. SOUNDBITE (English), Mary Stephens, fish processor and businesswoman, “We go to distribute fish [to Onitsha]. People travelling, even from London, some of them, come there and buy the goods from us.”
17. Drone shot, farmer feeding catfish
18. Drone shot, catfish ponds
19. Drone shot, ponds in a rural area
20. Drone shot, solar panels in a rural area
21. Med shot, woman picks a catfish
22. Med shot, woman empties a bucket filled with catfish
23. Wide shot, woman at a catfish market
24. Med shot, catfish in buckets
25. Med shot, woman at a catfish market
26. Med shot, catfish being sliced
4 AUGUST 2023, ROME, ITALY
27. Wide shot, FAO headquarters in Rome
22 SEPTEMBER 2023, ROME, ITALY
28. Med shot, FAO’s Gilles van de Walle looking at computer
29. Pan right, FAO’s Gilles van de Walle looking at computer
30. SOUNDBITE (English), FAO’s Gilles van de Walle, Chief Technical Adviser, FISH4ACP, “The current production levels are potentially 3 to 4 times higher than was previously thought. So potentially, we are talking about a really huge sector which would make the Nigerian catfish sector one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.”
20 OCTOBER 2021, KARIBA, ZIMBABWE, LAKE HARVEST FISH FARM
31. Med shot, boat in an aquaculture pond
32. Med shot, fish in a cage eating
33. Med shot, worker grading fish at “Lake Harvest” factory
34. Close up, fish grading machine
2 MAY 2023, IJEBU-ODE, NIGERIA
35. Drone shot, catfish pond
26-29 APRIL 2022, PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN PROVINCE, THAILAND
36. Close up, shrimps in a fishing net
28 SEPTEMBER 2023, ROME, ITALY
37. Wide shot, FAO Assistant Director General Manuel Barange at his office
38. Tilt dow, FAO Assistant Director General writing
39. SOUNDBITE (English), Manuel Barange, Director of the Fisheries Aquaculture Division at FAO, “Aquaculture in particular is the fastest growing food production system around the world. In Zambia, for example, aquaculture has grown by a factor of 15 from the year 2000 to now. In Ecuador, is the same number, fifteen times. In Vietnam, is 10 times. So, that provides huge opportunities for people to get into the job market. Youth and women, in particular, are very important.”
2 MAY 2023, IJEBU-ODE, NIGERIA
40. Drone shot, catfish ponds
41. Tit up, catfish processor
42. Med shot, catfish processor at work
43. Med shot, catfish seller
44. Close up, hands on a smoked catfish slice
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