The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has teamed up with nonprofit Partners for Development to launch a two-year aquaculture investment project in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, a region that produces nearly 80 percent of the country’s total domestic fish output.
Both USAID, through the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub and the Partners for Development – a global organization that partners with governments and other development organizations to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people – will support fish farmers in the Niger Delta region to build resilience to withstand the adverse impacts of COVID-19.
The two-year project, “Investment in Delta State Aquaculture,” with funding from U.S government’s Feed the Future initiative, will see Partners for Development leverage USD 1.1 million (EUR 899,709) in private funds; in addition to the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub’s USD 500,000 (EUR 408,959) grant to cushion fish farmers battling increased production costs and reduced sales due to the pandemic.
Fish-farming in three local government areas in Niger Delta – Uvwie, Ughelli North, and Ndokwa West – will benefit from the project, which entails “improving production, helping sales rebound, and increasing employment in the aquaculture sector, including for women and youth,” according to a USAID release. Women and youth make up 50 percent and 20 percent of overall fish producers in the Niger Delta respectively.
The project will also “strengthen the capacity of at least eight fish farmers’ associations and 600 fish-farmers to enable them to use improved aquaculture and business management practices to increase their productivity by 25 percent,” USAID said.
Furthermore, the project will seek to increase the capacities of 15 hatcheries and 15 aquafeed distributors engaged in the supply of fingerlings and feed to fish-farmers in the Delta region.
“We are looking forward to not only strengthening the capacity of fish farmers, hatcheries, fish feed distributors, and key government officials, but to also providing loans to expand and improve the performance of those working in the aquaculture value chain,” USAID Nigeria Mission Director Anne Patterson said.
For aquafeed and hatchery distributors, the project will support them improve the quality of their inputs and increase their output by at least 25 percent by the end of the two years, according to USAID.
Additionally, extension officers from the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture fisheries extension officers in the delta state will also get training to boost their capacity to better support fish-farmers, USAID said.
Revamping of fish production in the delta region will support efforts by the Nigerian government to increase annual per-capita fish consumption, currently estimated at about 13.3 kilograms.
Total fish production in Nigeria is estimated at 1,027,000 metric tons, with aquaculture contributing a 31 percent share, compared to 36 percent and 33 percent for marine and inland waters catches, respectively.
Photo courtesy of Partners for Development
