‘I will soon start exporting fish to Ghana’

This may sound incredible when one considers the fact that Nigeria has become a dumping ground for all manner of goods ranging from manufactured goods to food items. But a visit to this vast fish farm shows that there are Nigerian farmers serious about the business to the point of exporting fish abroad.

A former staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Dala said what makes his fish attractive is the quality of fish he releases into the market as each of them weight a minimum of 4.5 kilogram before harvest as opposed to a kilo or half a kilo weight which he started with.

According to him, the farm now has 27 ponds with average dimension of 750 square meters from the one pond of 200 fish he started with about four years ago.

Dressed in a white t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans trousers and a pair of yellow rubber boots, Dala said for one to succeed in fish farming, he needs to dedicate his time to it without relying on workers alone.

“When we started about four years ago, we were just growing about half kilo, but now we grow three to six kilos because we have matured over the period. We brought in experts, paid them to come and tell us what is required, and we implement their advice. What I noticed generally is that people believe in magic. They believe just because people say fish gives money, a young man will put 10,000 fish and expect to make a fortune. For him to feed 10,000 fish to give him what he wants, he needs about N5 million. How many people can afford N5 million?

“I started with only one pond of 2,000 fish over four years ago. Now, we have grown to 27 ponds. So, if you rush in because you think fish can compete with cocaine, then it is unfortunate. But there is money in it. But you have to have the knowledge; you have to understand the psychology of the fish. Look at what I was doing this morning. As they were feeding, I was looking at them.  I was studying them. And you saw me pointing at the dead ones and all those things. The attention fish need is more than what you can think of, more than what your wife needs. So, for you to make the money, you have to put all these things into consideration. That is why I used the word passion. If you don’t have the passion and the money, you will not succeed in fish farming.

“People should understand that they need patience. They need to have the knowledge and then the passion to understand. So, over the past five years, what we have been doing in this farm is to take the farm to stability level. In Sha Allah, we are going to be stable by the middle of next year, around May. From there afterwards we are going to start making profit, and I think good profit,” he said.

 Dala complained that some kind of incentives non-Nigerians get for investing in the economy is not extended to Nigerians. He said if that was the case he would have gotten access to enough single digit loans, adding, “What I am now telling you is what the former governor of Niger state, Alhaji Kure, told me when I was a branch comptroller of Central Bank there. I had a reason to visit him to sell some ideas to him from the Central Bank. He said look, go and tell the Governor of Central Bank Soludo to give us loan at 5 percent interest rate that they are giving to Zimbabwean farmers in Ilorin and see what I will do. So, here we are. So, now that I am a farmer, I have seen what he told me seven years ago staring me at the face.

“I am taking loan at 29 percent interest rate and I am paying. For the government loans, we hear about them on radio and read them on newspaper, but we don’t see it. If there is any bigger farmer than me in Gombe, let him come and prove it. But we don’t get the loan. We hear people are getting the loans every day; one billion, two billion, three billion have been allocated to farmers. We don’t know how they get it. We don’t get it,” he said.

Reminded about Nigeria’s Incentive-Based Risk sharing system, Dala said: “We discussed. I didn’t apply because the maximum they can give is N5 million or N10 million. What will N10 million do in this farm? No. Look at the size of this farm. What will N10 million do in this farm? Even two weeks ago we had reason to discuss with Assistant Director in charge of fish farming here. He said apply we will give you guarantee of N5 million. I just laughed. What is N5 million in this farm? This N5 million can just feed these two ponds for me if I want to do it commercially,” he said.

He said lack of power and water supply have made cost of production very high for his farm, adding, “Yes, government allocate money, but they know who they gave the money to; certainly, not the real farmers because I have not seen any money. I am here, and if there is anybody who said he has given me any kobo, let him come and say it.

“Averagely, I spend N300,000 to N500,000 every month on fuel to power 31 generators in the farm so that I can pump water into my ponds. If there can be steady power supply, it will reduce the cost of my operation, but that will be then.  In Nigeria, nobody knows when all these kinds of problems will end,” he said.