Fish farming business In Nigeria: Start a profitable Fish farm

When people think of agricultural business, all they think about is; ‘farming’.

The reason why that mentality is wrong is that; there is a difference between being a Farmer and an Agric Entrepreneur.

So what really is the difference between a Farmer and an Agric Entrepreneur?

Farmers are people who have holes, and cutlass. Or in the case of fish farming, they have ponds and all that.

One common thing about farmers is; “they mostly get confused along the way because of little to no knowledge they have before entering into the agric business”.

While for Entrepreneurs; before they go into the agric sector let’s say; “fish farming”. They understand not just the fish farming part of it, but also the business part of fish farming.

Apart from the business part of fish rearing, there is also the technical part of it.

And if you don’t understand the business part of it and you are trying to dare the technical part of it, you will end up being an ordinary confused person in the fish farming business.

What am trying to say is, someone who is going into fish farming must know the business aspect of it (ie, the marketing aspect of it, the price restraints, and so on).

For instance, I really don’t know where you are reading this article from, it could be anywhere in Nigeria or outside Nigeria.

And I know the only reason you are reading this article is that; you want to go into the fish farming business.

The first thing you must do is to familiarise yourself with the fish-rearing business in your environment (ie in your city or states in general).

Try to understand how it works; meet up with market women/men in the fish business, and ask them questions that are needed in the marketing aspect of the business.

After that, go get books about business; mostly in areas of “how to run a business” and also “Leadership“, because you will be having people working under you.

All of the above will help you build an entrepreneur’s mind. Having an entrepreneur’s mind is the core of succeeding in this business.

The entrepreneur mindset makes you think differently from the way ordinary people think when it comes to handling businesses.

That being done, let’s move to the technical part of fish farming.

The Technical part of fish farming.

No one can start a fish farm in Nigeria or beyond that will be totally ignorant of the technical aspect of fish rearing.

The reason is that technical part of fish farming is what qualifies you of calling yourself a fish farmer or fish entrepreneur.

So, I advise you, reading this article, to carefully read this technical part, because it is the fundamental part of having a successful fish-rearing business.

1. Land

Locating suitable land will definitely be the first thing because you can’t start a fish farm without land.

There are options between choosing swampy land or dry land. You are free to choose either of the two.

But if you get swampy land in that case I advise you to go for earthen ponds. As seen below.

But if you choose to go for dry land, then it means you need concrete ponds Or tarpaulin ponds. As seen below.

2. Ponds

There are types of ponds for fish farming; “Earthen ponds, Concrete ponds, and Tarpualine ponds(used for modern fish farming)”

And their pictures are what you can see above.

Ponds are more than just building a box-like structure that can contain water and fishes.

In constructing your earthen ponds, for instance, there are technicalities that you must follow, or else the structure you call pond might be detrimental to the fishes. The same goes for concrete ponds.

There is a lady who started fish farming in Nigeria, she complained that after starting her fish farming business for about six months she observed that the pond (earthen pond) wasn’t holding water anyymore.

The reason for that is; there was an error in the construction of that pond right from the beginning and this means she has lost several thousand or even millions of naira.

So this tells us there is how to construct the earthen pond and concrete pond.

What I will advise you is this; “if you are just getting started in this fish farming business, it will be good for you to have an expert very close by you,”

You have two options for acquiring an expert;

1. You can go ahead and employ somebody who has been in the fish farming business for several years (at least three years) and really understand all there is in the fish farming business. Then the person can guide you.

While in the construction of ponds, you can get bricklayers who have been working on such a project before.

Please note; “not bricklayers whose experience is tied around building houses alone”.  Because the building of ponds goes beyond just bringing blocks together.

But in the case of earthen ponds, you don’t need the services of bricklayers, because is not bricklaying work.

The reason is that; it requires digging and proper sacking of the foundation and other few things, if not what happened to that lady I gave reference to will definitely happen to you.

2. Contact a fish farming company that runs a consultancy program with experienced fish farmers. Signing up with them gives them the legal ground to assist you with the knowledge you need at any time to run a profitable fish farming business.

Now we are done with the pond construction, let’s move to the next.

3 Treating the Ponds 

The next stage is to get your ponds ready for the fish to live in.

In place where is earthen or concrete ponds, two things are needed before you stock your ponds with your fish.

1. Fertilize the ponds and make sure they are in good shape.
2. Make sure you kill all the organisms in the water (this you can achieve through the use of Lime)

When you pour the lime into your ponds every organism dies in a matter of days or 2 weeks.

When you are done with that, the next thing to do is to stock your pond with good fingerlings or juveniles.

4. Fish

The fingerlings or Juveniles are the foundation of having a successful fish farming business.

And we all know, when the foundation is bad, there is nothing anyone can do.

Starting a fish farming business with fingerlings or juveniles that are not healthy or something is wrong with them is as good as building your house on a faulty foundation.

It will definitely collapse. It might look like the rearing is going on fine until it is time to convert your fish to cash, then you will discover how much time and resources you have wasted.

There is a lady who complained of feeding her fingerlings for about four months but they still remain small

The best response to her problem is; she has been duped. Because she was sold the wrong fingerlings.

There are various types of fish farming, but among them is the two popular ones that are profitable;

1. Catfish farming
2. Tilapia fish farming

Both are profitable, you can either go for any one of them or both if you feel you are ok with it.

Water pH level

The water pH level is another thing to observe while treating the ponds before stocking the ponds with fish.

Learning how to test the water’s pH level is a whole different thing, is not something I can write for you to understand or something you can watch on YouTube and understand.

It requires you to have an expert beside you who will take you through all the processes.

And I have already given you the only best two options to get an expert to work with you.

Feed

I will be writing more on feeding when I publish my next article; Catfish farming business in Nigeria. So stay subscribed.

But one thing you must know is; “feeding will require 80% of your capital. It might get expensive along the way, that is why I advise you to learn how to go local in feeding as it will be beneficial not just to your capital but also to your fish.

This article is an introduction to Catfish Farming Business in Nigeria.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this article; “Fish Farming Business in Nigeria”.

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