A foremost feeds marketer Aller Aqua Nigeria yesterday (Thursday) held its season 4 annual farmers workshop for farmers within Agege and environs, the event which is one out of the series within the south western region of Nigeria was held at the prestigious Rita Event and Suites, New Okooba in Agege area of Lagos state.
The event kicked off with the opening/welcoming address by the Managing Director and country manager of Aller Aqua, Mr Nurudeen Lasisi, who welcomed the farmers and thanked them for their supports and patronage of Aller Aqua product and promising them on the relentless efforts of Aller Aqua in helping the farmers grow. There was an opportunity to further educate fish farmers on the new technologies in fish farming and the methodologies for cost reductions and maximising profits.
The workshop had eminent facilitators that took the audience on various topics and a vast experienced panellists that shared more lights on various challenges facing farmers and proffering suggested solutions through practical experiences.
Mr Lanre Ogunsina, aka Fish Master facilitated on the topic Strategic Management Techniques and took the farmers through the fundamentals of setting up a fish farming that includes, determining the size of a pond, the need for specialisation, calculation of required water level and adequate or effective stock level. He further reiterated on the need for farmers with more than one pond to batch their farming for the purpose of managing their resources (capital) in particular. He also hammered on the need for farmers to build alliance with each other for information gathering towards productivity and management, and the major concerns as farmers in safe guarding their fishes amongst others.
Mr Saheed Ajagbe, aka Macfish, a seasoned fish farmer with many years of experience had his time as he took the farmers through new techniques of going into fish processing, the methods of fish processing and the need to have a succession plans for the business through engaging the younger generations. He went further to illustrate ways of meeting with customers’ preferences while processing fish and effective ways of achieving greater results with little costs.
While Mr Fejiro Teginu took the farmers through on the effective ways of identifying their markets while re-emphasizing on the need to build an alliance with one another and identifying the preferences of their customers irrespective of the size of their fishes. He urged farmers not to relent in creating value chains for the fish farming business and noting that the farmers have got the powers to reshape their business through appropriate means of communication.
The panellists spoke on the structures available and ways of improving on it, the need to get women and youths involved in farming, the need to explore and harness the available government’s programs for farmers towards enhancing productivity, the need to diversify from farming of catfish to other species and importantly the need for appropriate marketing through acceptable platforms.
The farmers were full of praises to Aller Aqua for their unending supports as they were awarded certificate of participation and cash discounts on some of her products. The next edition of the workshop comes up in Ibadan in two weeks.
