One of the most lucrative businesses in present day Nigeria, for the beginners, apart from canteen business is catfish farming. Reason for this statement is not far-fetched. Unlike other lucrative businesses, catfish farming is non-labour intensive, requires little expertise, returns on capital guaranteed, and quick recoup of capital among others.
However, it sometimes amazes me when people complain of little or no returns on their investment on catfish farming. Some even complain of loss to the tune of 30 to 40 percent. As far as I am concerned, this is an irony to the so called lucrative business.
Based on observations, up to 60% of catfish farmers make little or no profit, and reasonable majority even run at loss. In order to encourage and protect the passion of both existing and incoming catfish farmers, this series is necessary as an eye opener to what catfish farmers do wrong in their day to day running of their businesses. Over the next few weeks, I will be revealing major reasons for poor returns on catfish farming investment. Below is an outline of these reasons, details to be posted in subsequent blog posts.
1. Poor Financial Planning
2. Inappropriate Pond Preparation
3. Underfeeding/Overfeeding
4. Selling Before Maturity
5. Overstocking
6. Poor Feed Formulation
7. Poor Monitoring of Sales
8. Poor Use of Floating and Local Feed
9. Poorly Bred Seed (juvenile and fingerlings)
10. Poor Market Information
Be informed
Be awared
Be warned
Be careful.
"This article originally appeared on Profitable Fish Farming and it is republished here with permission. You can read the original article here"