Triton plans $60m investment on aquaculture in Nigeria

With this investment, the company also hopes to build a production capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of fish within the period.The company’s project director, Mr. Yashpal Jain, said this at a press conference in Lagos to announce diversion of its facility for local production, saying the investments became imperative for Triton as one of […]

With this investment, the company also hopes to build a production capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of fish within the period.
The company’s project director, Mr. Yashpal Jain, said this at a press conference in Lagos to announce diversion of its facility for local production, saying the investments became imperative for Triton as one of the biggest fish importing companies in Nigeria.
He said the decision to divert the cold-room expansion facility of the company to the local aqua production is also necessitated by Triton’s resolve to comply with the guidelines of the fish import quota review.
Jain said with investments being put in place, the company in the next 5 years plans to turn Nigeria into not only a fish independent nation but also an exporting country.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, late 2014 announced review of fish import policy as a measure to reduce importation of fish into the country.
In order to promote local production of aqua foods and reduce the importation to the barest minimum, the minister had embarked on policy review mission after discovering anomalies in the quota distribution.
Jain, who stated that the company has partnered with various state governments in Nigeria, said the company’s first production of 2000 metric tonnes of locally produced fingerlings would be harvested in February, from its Lagos ponds.
Jain explained that the policy review only hastens Triton’s investments in Nigeria as the company had wanted to venture into local production in the country.
This, he said, has been done in other countries of Triton’s operation, adding that the zeal by the government to promote the local production altered its earlier decision and subsequent diversion of its facilities.
Jain said that the company has already started local production in other countries like Ghana and Egypt, due to the structure and policies of government in those countries.
According to him, the choice of production locations was based on a survey of the whole country to know which state was suitable for the farming.
He said Nigeria may not be totally devoid of importation since no country is an island of everything because there are some species of fish which cannot be cultured in Nigeria due to environmental factors, including weather.
However, Jain promised that the company would embark on production of species such as tilapia, which are not yet being produced in the country.
He said the company has three specific business focuses in Nigeria, which include aquaculture and seafood processing, poultry farming and processing as well as distribution of frozen meat, poultry and seafood.
The company presently has about 900 employees across its operation countries as it promises to build a training centre in Ibadan, where people could be trained on aquaculture farming.