Fish farmers berate govt’s support in Kebbi

The governor made the announcement when he presented the 2014 budget proposal to the House of Assembly in Birnin Kebbi the state capital.Director of  Fisheries in the Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture, Mustapha Saidu Dole, told Daily Trust in an interview that the development will boost the pilot fish farms established in the five zonal […]

The governor made the announcement when he presented the 2014 budget proposal to the House of Assembly in Birnin Kebbi the state capital.
Director of  Fisheries in the Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture, Mustapha Saidu Dole, told Daily Trust in an interview that the development will boost the pilot fish farms established in the five zonal fishery offices in the state, namely, Birnin Kebbi, Argungu, Bagudo,Yauri and Zuru. The offices will also serve as training centtres for fish farmers in the state.
A fish farmer in the state, Alhaji Mustapha Yahaya Jega, described the budget allocation to fisheries as fake because, according to him: “when you say you have budgeted some funds for a sector and the real beneficiaries are not reached, then, that is just a window to divert funds for something different.
“Since government is contemplating the ban on importation of fish and Kebbi is allocating only N23 million in the fish sub-sector then, that is a big joke because how many fish farmers can that amount help?
“In my farm alone, I produce over 20,000 fishes in each of the five large ponds in the farm. The waste water from these ponds is channeled to my irrigation farm within the premises. We produce up to 50 bags of pepper and onions and on another section we have the fruits farm where we produce banana and mangos.”
Alhaji Jega lamented that he has not benefitted from any form of assistance from either the federal or state governments within the 16 years he has been operating as a fish farmer in the state.
Another fish farmer, Abdulkadir Ahmed, the caretaker chairman of Birnin Kebbi chapter of Baiwa Fishers Association also said he has never benefited from any state or federal government’s programme since he started fish farming 14 years ago.
He said: “Our major challenge is high cost of feeding the fish. A bag of feed cost N6,000 and can only feed a pond of about 2,000 fishes per day. But we have devised a means of producing our feed locally with same amount of money to feed each pond for over a week. So, we would have witnessed much improvement if all these budgets by government are channeled to those it is meant for.”
The Sarkin ruwan Argungu, Alhaji Hussaini Matanfada, also decried that fishermen in the state are yet to benefit from government assistance. He, however, admitted knowledge of some fishing gears that were said to be provided by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture but are yet to be distributed to farmers in the state.
An official of the Yauri zone of the fisheries department, Farouk Muhammad, said over 500 victims of the last year’s flood disaster benefitted from the World Bank assistance, adding 600 Dutch fingerlings and fish feeds were distributed to the victims.
The Director of Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the state, Mr Kelvin Tekpat, said they have received 600 fishing nets and a large number of floaters, ropes and sinkers for distribution to farmers, adding, “We shall commence distribution of such materials to fish farmers across the state towards the end of this month.”.
The State Programme Officer (SPO) of IFAD, Mr Joel Aiki, said 99 plastic fish ponds were distributed to fish farmers so that the waste water can be used for backyard farming, adding, “We also provided concrete fish ponds to every four communities in the 21 local government areas, including Arewa, where we also provided boreholes because of their acute water shortage.”