The Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Sayyadi Ruma, said that in 2007, Nigeria spent N505bn on frozen fish imports though it has over 800 kilometres of coastline.
He explained that fishery production in Nigeria was coming mainly from artisanal, small-scale and low cost sources, which constituted about 85 per cent of total domestic production, reports the Punch.
He noted that aquaculture and industrial fishery in costal/marine water, complemented the national fish production efforts, but the combined production could not meet national demand.
Ruma put the country’s current fish production from aquaculture sources at 100, 000 metric tonnes which was still far from the volume needed.
700,000 Tonnes: The Weight of Nigeria's Slump
NIGERIA - In order to meet demand, Nigeria is importing 700,000 metric tonnes of frozen fish annually. This figure mirrors the current slump in production that the country is facing.