A University Lecturer,Professor Adejoke Abeni Adewumi of the Ekiti State University(EKSU),Ado-Ekiti has called on the Federal Government to double efforts at improving national security as many farmers are abandoning farms thus resulting in rising cost of grains and legumes that serve as basic feed stuffs for fish formulation in the country.
Adewumi,who is a Professor of Fish Nutrition and Aquaculture Management at EKSU stated this on Wednesday while delivering the 88th Inaugural Lecture Titled: Re-Engineering The Food Of Teleosts And Evaluating Their Benefits, posited that government should provide assistance to the agricultural sector in general and allocate a larger proportion of funds from the state budget for the blue economy.
Professor Adewumi lamented that many farmers are complaining about the high cost of feed and that this is prompted by the increase in the price of raw materials for the feed formulation.
“Our various research works have provided panacea to the challenge as contribution towards the blue economy. We have also reported zooplankton-fish relationship for the understanding of the relevant stakeholders in fish breeding and rearing.”
According to her,”As World population grows,there is increased consumption of fish and the need for the production of enough fish to meet up with the growing demand. Humans began eating fish at least 2 million years ago,and the practice of harvesting and consuming seafood is an ancient one.
“For Nigeria to achieve self-sufficiency in fish production,Nigeria urgently needs to strengthen aqua feed production.
“The government needs to encourage young persons involved in aqua food production by providing them with incentives,such as trainings,provision of soft loans etc.” Prof. Adewumi stated.
The Don stated that now that the federal government had floated the Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Resources, it is essential for the relevant states to do the same at the State level so that we could direct more attention to mariculture and take advantage of the huge resources in the marine environment.
She,however stressed the need for the government to fund more research on the use of alternatives to these important components of animal feed at the micro level.
The Don also admonished farmers that could not afford regular grain feed stuffs or fishmeal should look into alternatives such as fermented cassava,yam or potato peels and incorporate some of the fishmeal replacers discussed such as moringa leaf meal,Bambara nuts,maggots etc into formulated feeds and that the could as well be fed on some snacks of these products while on the regular diets.
