Expert urges better preservation of Catfish to boost value-chain

An aquaculture expert, Mr Fatai Adedeji, has harped on the need to explore better preservation of Catfish to boost its value-chain and sector's productivity.

Adedeji, the Managing Director, Integrated Fisheries Farms Nigeria Ltd., Abeokuta, Ogun, said this in an interview on Friday in Lagos.

He noted that adequately utilising new ways of Catfish preservation methods could help boost its value-chain amongst others.

According to him, moving away from the conventional hot or cold preservation methods will do the sector good.

"In the preservation of Catfish, it is either we use the hot or cold method.

"However, one major way we can preserve and improve the value-chain of catfish is to embark on canning.

"There was a time Nigeria Institute of Marine Research (NIMR) tried to do canning but they had lot of issues and could not continue the process.

"Some individual local catfish farmers have also gone through the lengths to personally get materials for canning the fish.

"To can catfish you can have it slightly fried or smoked or even vacuum sealed. If we get it right in catfish canning, the sky will be our limit," the expert said.

Adedeji also spoke on the benefits of embarking on fish sausage production as another means of catfish preservation and boosting of its value-chain.

He reiterated that fish sausages have made big business avenue for catfish farmers around the world.

"We also want to introduce the production of fish sausage. It is very popular in East Africa. Just like beef/chicken sausages, we can make fish sausages popular.

"If we can successfully introduce fish sausages in Nigerian markets, that will become a big business avenue for us.

"We can also work on the production of fish oil, if we can extract fish oil, most catfish farmers will break even.

"Most times, catfish is usually sold live, if we can explore all these alternatives for preservation of Catfish and improving its value-chain, the sky is the limit for us.

"Catfish farmers also need adequate knowledge and information to explore these options. Once we can put these into practice, the sky is our starting point," he added.