We’ll End Fish Importation In The Next 2-Year – FG

The Federal Government has vowed that it plans to put an end to Fish importation in the country within the next two years. The Federal Government has said it had already engaged with fish importers to consider going into fish farming and production locally. Sabo Nanono On Fish Importation

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, said this during the 35th Annual Conference of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria, in Abuja on Monday, where he noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has initiated and is currently implementing programmes, mostly in the agricultural sector to help boost and diversify the economy. Fish importation shall endure a drastic fall, as more citizens are beginning to engage in production and farming of fish locally
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Federal Government plans To End Fish Importation in the next 2-YEAR

The Minister Sabo Nanono was represented at 35th annual Fishery Conference by the Director of Federal Department of Fisheries, Mr Imeh Umoh, where he asserted that an estimated 12 million Nigerians are actively involved in primary fish production and adding that the fishing industry contributes a 4.5 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Products of the country.

He said, “Let me inform you that the vision of Mr President is to grow Nigeria’s agriculture sector to achieve a hunger-free nation, through agriculture that drives income growth, accelerate the achievement of food and nutritional security, generate employment and transform Nigeria into a leading player in the group of food and fish markets, and to create wealth for millions. It is in this regard that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, under this present administration, is pursuing a holistic approach to the development of the fisheries subsector through the diversification programme along the value chain process.
“In line with the theme of this conference, the ministry has developed various programmes to increase domestic food/fish production and the main target is the empowerment of the youth and other groups especially the women. All these programmes are tailored towards wealth and jobs creation, arrest and prevention of youth restiveness. Currently, the total demand for fish is 3.6 million tonnes annually while Nigerian is producing 1.1 million tonnes, leaving a deficit of about 2.5 million tonnes to be supplemented by importation.
“As part of the measures of the ministry to reduce this importation and generate employment, the government has directed all fish importers to go into backwards integration for local consumption and export to the international market. In this regard, several companies have complied with the policy and the ministry is optimistic that in the next two years, Nigeria will have no business with the importation of fish.

Photo Credit: Getty

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