Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) has unveiled its latest innovation of catfish canning.
NIOMR explained that initiative represents a paradigm change in the fish production.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the formation of innovation platform for stakeholders in the catfish farming and canning event, organized by the institute in collaboration with Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), in Lagos, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMOR , Dr. Gbola Akande said that the innovation was for different aquaculture value chains to effectively engage all shareholders to develop the aquaculture industry.
This he said will create job, wealth through value addition as well as increased fish production in the country.
According to the NIOMR boss, utilization of low value small and medium sized Cat fish will increase the production of catfish in Nigeria.
“Canning of this medium size catfish as value addition is currently ongoing as a means of increasing their utilization for, human consumption, investment opportunities, and product diversification, quality standardization in the local and foreign market, and foreign exchange earnings through export of the canned catfish, “he added.
He noted that the catfish canned project was funded with $100, 000 grant from the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), which based in Ghana.
He commended the organization for their support on the project catfish canning innovation platforms.
Commenting on the innovation, the Director General , said that in other to facilitate understanding of the concept, some measure of capacity building may be required.
He added that the objective of the innovation platform for the different aquaculture value chains was to facilitate dialogue between the main local players in the value chain, like the farmers, input suppliers, traders, transporters, processors, wholesalers, retailers, even the regulators as well as research and development.
“Innovation platform identify bottlenecks and opportunities in production, marketing and the policy environment. The process is galvanized through discussions on market requirements which include quantity, quality, and the timing of sales, followed by an analysis of existing production strategies.
“The innovation platform then identifies and implements technologies to improve production to fulfill market demand. In a parallel and similar process, the marketing system is analyzed and improvements to benefit all role players are tabled and tested within the local context,” Akande said.