Why prices of fish feeds go up

Catfish farmers in the country are currently grappling with rising cost of feeds, which has scaled up the cost of production nationwide. Some of the farmers who spoke to our reporters in Abuja, said they may have to reconsider their investment in fish production. Already, at some of the fish farm sites in Abuja, some […]

Catfish farmers in the country are currently grappling with rising cost of feeds, which has scaled up the cost of production nationwide.
Some of the farmers who spoke to our reporters in Abuja, said they may have to reconsider their investment in fish production.
Already, at some of the fish farm sites in Abuja, some farmers have abandoned production because, according to them, the current fish prices were not commensurate to the cost of production per killogramme which had gone up from N350 to N500.
Sunday Agogo is a fish seller in Kado Fish Market in Abuja.  He listed the factors responsible for rising cost of feed to include cost of electricity, transportation and high inflation rate.
Our reporters who visited the market, discovered that there was a significant rise in the cost of feeds, which earlier in the year was procured for far less.
Vita feed which earlier in the year sold for N4,300 now sells for N6,000 while Copens, which was sold at N6,000 now N9,000. The same applies to Skretting which is now sold for N8,500. The 0.5mm for starter pack costs N28,000 per 20kg bag.  Multi feed is now completely out of stock for about two weeks now, some sellers said.

Mrs. J. Eneh, one of the feeds sellers, lamented that many farmers are now refraning from buying feeds in the market, adding that  it is difficult to sell few bags a day compared to last year when the prices were lower.
“Farmers hardly come here these days; they only call to find out what the prices of the feeds are. You will never hear from them again. The situation is bad,” she stressed.
Clupeids and tilapia, which some farmers use in feeding their fishes, are no longer available in the markets.  
Professor Mrs. V.O Ayuba, Dean College of Forestry and Fisheries, University of Agriculture, Markudi, Benue State, said the current situation will create huge impact on the fish industry, adding that smallholder fish farmers will not be able to compound their fish feeds.
According to her, even the cost of the ingredients in compounding feeds like soya beans and others has also gone up. In her words, “it will even cost more, except you are a large scale farmer.”
Professor Ayuba who is also a fish farmer, lamented that the astronomical increase in the cost of feeds-some of which are no longer available, will translate to increase in the prices of table size fishes in the market.