The Socio-Economic Analysis Of Small Scale Fish Farming Enterprise (Lagos State Fish Farm Estate, Ikorodu, Nigeria)
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to evaluate the socio-economic analysis of small scale fish farming enterprise of the Lagos state fish farming estate in Ikorodu, Nigeria. The primary data were obtained from 60 respondents with structured interview guides, which were selected using simple sampling techniques. The results reveals that the majority (88.3%) of the fish farmers are male while (31.40%) are in the active age distribution of 31-40 years, university education (63.0%) and (58.3%) were married, majority (73.4%) of the respondent had a household size that range between 3 -5 persons. Results of the Descriptive analyses and tests of significance however showed that there was is a significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics and constraint of fish farming in the estate, there is also a significant relationship between income of fish farmers and constraints of the fish farm enterprise. Implications of these findings were critically examined, and pertinent recommendations were proffered based on the salient findings in the study.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Title page | i | |
| Declaration | ii | |
| Certification | iii | |
| Dedication | iv | |
| Acknowledgement | v | |
| Abstract | vi | |
| Table of Content | vii | |
| CHAPTER ONE | ||
| 1.1 | Introduction | 1 |
| 1.2 | Problem Statement | 3 |
| 1.3 | Objectives of the Study | 4 |
| 1.4 | Hypotheses | 4 |
| 1.5 | Justification of the Study | 5 |
| 1.6 | Limitation of the Study | 6 |
| CHAPTER TWO | ||
| 2.0 | Literature review | 7 |
viii
| 2.1 | An overview of Aquaculture in Nigeria | 7 |
| 2.2 | An overview aquaculture in Lagos state | 9 |
| 2.3 | Current Situation of aquaculture in Nigeria | 11 |
| 24 | Aquaculture in Nigeria Economy | 12 |
| 2.5 | Fish Demand and Supply in Nigeria | 13 |
| 2.6 | Major Constraints of Aquaculture Development | 15 |
| 2.7 | An overview of small-scale fish farming | 15 |
| 2.7.1 | Problems faced by small-scale enterprises | 16 |
| 2.7.2 | Challenges faced by small-scale fish farming | 18 |
| 2.8 | Advantages of fish farming | 19 |
| 2.9 | Contribution of Fisheries to National Economy | 20 |
| 2.10 | Lagos State and Its Growth | 20 |
| 2.10.1 | Geology and Relief | 21 |
| 2.10.2 | Development Programmes of Lagos State | 23 |
| 3.0 | CHAPTER THREE | |
| 3.1 | material and method | 26 |
| 3.2 | Source of data | 26 |
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| 3.3 | Collection of Data: | 26 |
| 3.4 | Validation of research instrument | 27 |
| 3.5 | Reliability of the instrument | 28 |
| 3.6 | Description statistical tool | 28 |
CHAPTER FOUR
| 4.0 | Result | 29 |
| 4.1 | Demographic Characteristic of Respondent | 29 |
| 4.2 | Continuation of the Demographic Characteristics of Respondent | 31 |
| 4.3 | Nature of fish farming production | 33 |
| 4.4 | Type of culture system used | 35 |
| 4.5 | Culturing structure | 36 |
| 4.6 | Reason for Fish farming and total number of ponds/tanks | 37 |
| 4.7 | Fish Farm Size (plot) | 38 |
| 4.8 | Level of Fish Production | 40 |
| 4.9 | The type of record kept | 41 |
| 4.10 | Reason for Keeping Records | 42 |
| 4.11 | Production Information | 43 |
| 4.12 | Form of Selling Fish | 44 |
| X |
| 4.13 | Problems encountered with labour accusation | 45 |
| 4.14 | Harvest per year | 46 |
| 4.15 | Average weight per fish | 47 |
| 4.16 | Factors determining yield | 48 |
| 4.17 | Market structure | 49 |
| 4.18 | Do you process the fish before Sales | 50 |
| 4.19 | Level of production | 51 |
| 4.20 | Constraint/problems encountered by the respondent in the fish farming Estate 52 | |
| 4.21 | Hypotheses testing | 54 |
| CHAPTER FIVE | ||
| 5.0 | Discussion | 56 |
| 5.2 | Summary | 60 |
| 5.3 | Conclusion | 61 |
| 5.4 | Recommendation | 62 |
| References | 63 | |
| Appendix | 68 | |
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Presently, fish as an important component of the population‟s diet in many parts of the world has increased rapidly over the past hundred years due to improved technology, which showcases powerful engines and sonar equipment and led to over fishing, causing a worldwide decrease in wild stocks. Accounting for the decline in the fish population dynamics. The need to increase fish production by farming became an urgent matter.
The term „Aquaculture‟ covers all forms of cultivation of aquatic animals and plants in fresh brackish-and marine. Aquaculture can be seen as an aspect of agricultural practices, mainly to increase the production of food above the level that would be produced naturally. Today, aquaculture is responsible for an ever-increasing share of global aquatic food production, which has increased from 3.9 percent in 1970 to 31.9 percent in 2003 (FAO, 2005).
In Nigeria, Agriculture provides between 80 to 90 percent of the country‟s food needs (Odife,
2002). It however has diverse aspects and this includes fish farming which involves the rearing of fish for the purpose of consumption or sale. Fish is acclaimed to be the principal source of animal protein for over one billion people globally and provides many important nutritional and health benefits. Fish has the highest level of easily metabolisable proteins; it is reputed for its high quality proteins, fats, vitamins, calcium, iron and essential amino acids. The per capital consumption of animal protein in the country has been put at 5gm per day. This is a far cry from the FAO‟s recommended level of 35gm per day (Afolami and
Oladimeji, 2003).
Fish farming is a profitable venture and it is rapidly expanding and it will continue to be profitable if the planning and management are well taken care of. Fish farming started in Nigeria over 40 years ago (Ekwegh, 2005). The Nigerian government has recognized the importance of the fishery sub-sector and it has made several attempts over the years to increase their productivity through institutional reforms and the various economic measures. Some of these measures provided subsidy for inputs and exemption from tax for fishermen. Despite the efforts of government, there is still a deficit in the supply and demand for fish by the population (Dada, 2004). Most of the fish farming in Nigeria is carried out by small scale operators in small fresh water ponds (UNDP). Nigeria has a population of over one hundred million people and has her national fish demand at over 1.5 million metric tones. The current annual aquaculture production hovers around 500,000 metric tonnes. These combined with ever decreasing catch (due to over exploitation) from the capture fisheries have not been able to meet the ever-increasing protein demand of the country. Thus the challenge to increase protein consumption in Nigeria appears to be more urgent now than ever (Mbanasor, 2002). Poor people are facing new barriers in both their production and returns on fish. Even by the standards of developing countries, artisanal fishers and fish workers are often among the poorest people and they generally operate on a small scale and use traditional fishing practices yet new technologies and environment requirement favour large scale capital intensive operation at the expense of traditional and small scale commercial fishing (Delgado et al., 2003). Whereas small scale fish farming supplies the greatest percentage of the Nigerian‟s annual fish production output (FDF, 1995).
1.1 Problem Statement
In Nigeria, the first trace of aquaculture was the practice by some missionaries in the early
1920‟s in Ilora, Oyo state, where fish was raised to supplement the protein intake of pregnant women. Conventional fish farming in Nigeria, however, falls into two distinct periods; between 1950 – 1970 and 1970 – 1992. The first period popularised fish farming while the second phase concentrated on expansion and establishment of demonstration of fish farms in addition to bold attempts at reducing the major constraints for rapid aquaculture development (Omitoyin, 2007).
Aquaculture the farming of aquatic organisms in controlled environment was introduced to Nigeria in the early 1950‟s and fish production through aquaculture has risen steadily from a few hundred kilograms to over 45,000 metric tonnes in 2004 (FAO, 2007.). Prior to the 1990s, aquaculture development in Nigeria was driven by socio – economic objectives including, nutrition improvement of rural communities, generation of additional family income, creation of employment and diversification of income generating activities; and was promoted by international organization and agencies and the government at Federal, State and Local Governments levels. Today, aquaculture is the fastest growing livestock production sector in Nigeria, with a growth of about 29% in 2006 alone, and with prospects of continued growth. This is because demand for fish is on the increase line with population growth, while catches from fisheries are on the decline, even globally (Delagado et al., 2003)
The following research questions emanated from the socio – economic analysis of small scale fish farming enterprise in Lagos state fish farming estate, Ikorodu, Nigeria.
What are the socio economic characteristics of the fish farmer in the study area? What is the source of water and type of culturing system use in the study area?
3
What are the various forms in which fish are sold in the study area? What are the constraints militating against fish farming in the study area?
What are the sources of capital and marketing structure of fish farmers in the study area?
1.2 Objectives of the Study
The main objective is to investigate the socio- economic analysis of small scale fish farming enterprise in Lagos state fish farm estate, Ikorodu, Nigeria
The specific objectives are to:
describe socio-economic characteristics of the fish farmers in the study area.
determine the major source of water and type of culture system in the study area.
identify various forms at which fish is sold in the study area
highlight constraints of sustainability of the fish venture amongst fish farmer in the study area.
assess the source of capital and marketing structure of fish farmers in the study area
1.3 Hypotheses
The hypotheses tested in the null form, are:
H01: There is no significant difference between socio-economic characteristics and constraints faced by fish farmer in the estate.
H02: There is no significant difference between income of fish farmers and constraint faced by fish farmer in the estate.
1.4 Justification of the Study
Lagos state has great potentials to develop fish farming to absorb a sustainable fraction of the Nation fish product deficit. Based on World Health Organization (W.H.O) minimum recommendation of 34kg animal protein per caput, Lagos state requires a minimum of 380,000 metric tons annually (LAMAC, 201O). The state is endowed with inland and coastal waters pulse adequate infrastructure; of which there is a high demand for fish and its sale price are favorable. What is lacking is hence the technical know-how, while exploring ways to ameliorate the performance of the sector. The contribution of the fisheries sector to the state and National economy at large is highly positive (if well propelled).
Lately, demand for fish has doubled as other source of animal protein have become expensive due to the ever rising population (demand) and high production cost of other animal protein sources.(Fagbenro et al., 2004 )
Inspite of the potentials of aquaculture there are lots of problems militating against its development. The major constraint to increased fish production in Nigeria is poor rate of capital formation and lack of credit facilities amongst other (FAO, 2005).
In the less developed countries, the rate of credit is closely related to providing needed resources which farmer cannot source from their own capital (Rahji, 2000)
Hence, this study attempts to identify the socio-economic determinant of fish farmer, to identify various sources of capital and water available to farmers, constraints faced by allotees in the farm estate and proffer recommendation to improve the fish farming in the estate
1.5 Limitation of the Study
The study was geographically limited to Ikorodu Lagos state, Nigeria and restricted to the Lagos State fish farm Estate only. Similarly, some problems were faced in data collection from various allot tee (plot) in the study area as they were not willing or ready to release data as they believed it is confidential and most managers demanded to seek authorization from owners, but continuous and flexible visits made them to concur.
Financial constraint was faced as it requires many travelling and phone calls before the successful completion of the project.
Locating the farm estate was not a major problem but arriving/ reaching there was, as the major road along its axis (odoguyoun road) are bad, thereby accounting for traffic and longer time spent travelling.
Respondent were unwilling to disclose the source of capital and number of culture period, but repetition of the same question indirectly gave an actual data needed.
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