An Agro-Allied expert, Mr Nurudeen Lasisi, says that the road network around the Lagos ports is a major contributor to the hike in imported fish feeds.
Lasisi, the Country Manager of Aller Aqua Nigeria Ltd, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos against the backdrop of the price difference between imported and locally milled feed.
He said that though the challenges in fish feed prices was global, Nigeria had a peculiar challenge which trickled to the prices of haulage that skyrocketed a few months ago.
“The price of fish feed is global in the sense that the raw materials used are in the milling are produced globally like maize, soya and others. We also have some micro-nutrients that are synthetic that are not produced here.
“We also have a challenge as a result of the amount of raw materials produced locally that are not adequate to service consumption and agro-allied industries.
READ ALSO:Rainy season: TRACE counsels motorists on safe driving
“The peculiar challenge we have is the road network that affects feed prices. Also, recently, price of haulage jumped from about N250,000 to N650,000 because of the congestion at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
“Even local millers are being affected by this development,” he said.
Lasisi encouraged fish farmers to buy quality fish feeds for a more profitable venture rather than settle for the cheaper ones with less quality with limited returns on investment.
NAN reports that an 8mm bag of Aller Aqua feed is between N7,500 and N8,500, while other locally produced feed cost between N5,500 and N6,500.
NAN also reports that Aller Aqua has so far trained about 1,400 fish farmers in Lagos State alone this year in its Season 4 of its Farmers Meeting series tagged, “Innovative Catfish Marketing: Call for Women and Youth Involvement.
The training, currently ongoing across major cities in the country is in partnership with the Development of Finance Office of the Central Bank of Nigeria. (NAN)