Ogun State Farmers Rake in Over ₦9 Billion from Aquaculture Support Initiative

News in brief:

-Ogun aquaculture farmers earned over ₦9 billion from OGSTEP interventions.

-Over 4,200 farmers benefited from subsidised feed, processing facilities and capacity building.

The Ogun State Government recently disclosed that its aquaculture support programme under the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) has generated an estimated ₦9.17bn in revenue for fish farmers across the state.

The revenue followed sustained government investments in feed subsidies, infrastructure development and capacity building within the aquaculture value chain.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Bolu Owotomo, disclosed this in Eriwe, Ijebu, while addressing stakeholders during an inspection of state-funded agricultural projects across fish clusters and farm settlements.

According to Owotomo, a total of 4,256 aquaculture farmers benefited from the programme, which was designed to boost fish production, lower production costs and improve farmers’ incomes.

Subsidised Fish Feed

Owotomo revealed that the state government supplied 195,436 bags of fish feed to farmers at a 30% subsidy, representing a direct public investment of ₦2.7 billion to cushion the impact of rising input costs.

He said the intervention resulted in an estimated aquaculture output of 4,256 metric tonnes of fish, contributing significantly to food security and reducing reliance on imported fish.

The commissioner noted that the OGSTEP intervention also extended to the poultry subsector, where 1,272 broiler farmers benefited from the distribution of 77,703 bags of professional and commercial broiler feed.

He added that some broiler farmers were supported with the production of 500 birds each and linked to off-takers to minimise post-harvest losses.

Modern Processing Facilities Deployed Across Clusters

During the inspection, Owotomo visited the Ijebu Development Initiative for Poverty Reduction at the Eriwe Fish Farm Cluster, which consists of about 600 fish farmers and has been equipped with a modern fish processing facility.

The facility includes a five-ton solar-powered blast freezer, a 10-ton cold room, chest freezers with 500 and 900 capacities, seven smoking kilns of varying capacities, a 500kg digital weighing scale, stainless steel work tables, 400-litre holding tanks, rehabilitated processing buildings and market shops.

Owotomo also inspected ongoing facilities at the Ikangba Fish Farm Cluster, which has about 1,224 fish farmers, and the Ikenne Fish Farm Cluster.

He said similar processing infrastructure was being deployed in Ibiade, Ado-Odo and Ilashe fish clusters to strengthen value addition and storage capacity statewide.

OGSTEP Targets Value Addition and Price Stability

The commissioner stressed that the intervention was inclusive and statewide, aimed at reducing post-harvest losses, promoting value addition and stabilising prices across the aquaculture value chain.

“This clearly demonstrates that when government support is well-targeted, agriculture becomes profitable for farmers and beneficial to the economy,” Owotomo said.

In separate remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Angel Adelaja, alongside local government officials and industry leaders, commended the initiative.

They said the new facilities would reduce gluts, curb distress sales, improve incomes, expand production and strengthen local economic development, while reaffirming Governor Dapo Abiodun’s commitment to sustainable agricultural growth in Ogun State.