Facts about Fish Farming as a Profitable Business Model in Nigeria
When it comes to making food abound then agriculture is inevitable and that is the strength of agriculture, it doesn’t matter if you dislike it or not, it will always prevail and stand out unless you wish to undergo a greater strive to death.
One of the best ways to build wealth is to be in the business of feeding others, the world population is on the increase and with this understanding, you can be sure of making financial breakthrough in Agriculture, farming and food production.
One of the best and most engaging farming of our time in Nigeria with an outstanding profit margin is Fish Farming, actually fish farming as been in existence for a while but it as come into limelight in Nigeria and we have so many farmers both young and old in this business venture today.
Many years ago, what Nigeria does is what I call “Fish Hunting:” not “fish farming” this is a situation where farming goes into lagoon and large water bodies to harvest fishes and sell to the market but this practice was not able to meet the increasing population demand for food especially animal protein which is the major type of protein today.
Before we move forward; here are some interesting facts and stats which will give you tangible reasons why you should jump into the Agriculture and food Business venture today.
“ 55years ago in 1960, the population of the world lies at 3 billion people. Today, there’s an estimated 7.3 billion people on the world.
Every day, and every year, at least 2.4 times more people are given birth to than die.”
The stat above show us that there is always more mouths to feed and if you know your way with quality information and effective marketing strategies you will always make profits in the food business Industry.
Now, here are much more fascinating statistics you should check:
“ Agriculture and agriculture-related industries contributed $775.8 billion to the U.S gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012”.
To put this in perspective, that’s bigger than the entire GDP of Nigeria at $463 billion – in 2012. To further put this in perspective, Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa.
The food and drink manufacturing industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, accounting for 18.3% of the total manufacturing sector turnover, and responsible for employing 17% of the overall manufacturing workforce in the UK.
Agriculture alone added $85.54 billion to the Nigeria economy in 2012, a number that would be much higher today.
The above are interesting statistics to show you how big of an industry the food and Agriculture industry is in some great countries of the world.
So now that you are informed about those great figures across the globe; how big exactly is the fish industry?
It is difficult finding recent data on just how big the fish industry is but here are some interesting stats:
* As of 2012, catfish was the 6th most popular fish or seafood consumed in the United States.
The US farm raised catfish industry employs at least 10,000 people and contributes at least $12 billion to the US economy annually.
Fresh whole catfishes in Nigeria cost anything from $0.50 to 1.50 per pound depending on the size. This is based on my perspective as an insider in the history, since I have been in the industry and have met lots of commercial fish farmer that we rob mind together.
Growing your Catfish
This is where the number varies.
According to the U.S Catfish website, it takes around 18 months to 2years to grow a 1-pound catfish.
There are probably a lot of reasonable reasons behind this but I cannot really list them here but majorly in Nigeria, catfish grows from juvenile state to an average of at least 3.3lb within 6month [ most fish farmers in Nigeria raise their fishes for 6month ].
In some instances, depending on early care and a lot of factors, we sometimes take catfish to around 4.4lbs in the same 6months period.
You can see how dynamic fish farming can be in Nigeria and how lucrative the food and agriculture industry is ?
I recommend anyone to get started and join the farmers feeding the nation even as they build wealth alongside.
If you have any question, ideas, suggestion and experiences, kindly share them below, using the comment box.
