Abstract
The study assessed aquaculture table-size fish farmer’s activities in the Kainji Lake basin, Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined aquaculture activities in the area, assessed market information, channels and support organizations, and identified the major constraints to aquaculture table- size fish farming in the area. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 table-size fish farmers. Primary data were collected with a questionnaire and presented using descriptive statistics. The result shows that majority of the respondents were males (82.1%), with mean age of 36.7 years, 53.8% had tertiary educational qualification while 66.7% had more than six years’ experience in fish farming. Majority (92%) of the table-size fish farmers operate with less than two ponds, 51% practice earthen pond system, while 91% of the farmers engage in the business for the purpose of generating income. Majority (90%) of the farmers sell their farmed fish after six months, 80% of the sales take place at farm-gate level, 80% of the owners of the fish farms are contacted directly by fish buyers. Also, majority (53.8%) of the fish buyers are the middle men who buy and resell to other fish users (processors, consumers, farmers etc). The major constraints to table-size fish farming were inadequate capital (46.2%), poor water management (33.3%), high cost of feed (10.3%) and poor pricing (10.3%). It is therefore recommended that fish farmers should form strong Farmer Associations to enable them combat the issues of accessing capital and poor pricing. This will aid in business expansion as the farmers will take advantage of economy of scale.
 Key words: aquaculture, table-size, fish, farmers
Highlights
IntroductionAquaculture refers to the culture/rearing of aquatic organisms such as shell fish (Shrimps, Prawns), fin fish, crustaceans (aquatic snails), amphibians (toads, frogs, etc.) and aquatic plants (Madu, 2016)
Aquaculture refers to the culture/rearing of aquatic organisms such as shell fish (Shrimps, Prawns), fin fish, crustaceans, amphibians and aquatic plants (Madu, 2016)
The findings show that majority (91%) of the farmers engage in the business for the purpose of generating income as table size fish farming is perceived to be more lucrative than other value chain activities (Ifejika et al, 2015)
Summary
Aquaculture refers to the culture/rearing of aquatic organisms such as shell fish (Shrimps, Prawns), fin fish, crustaceans (aquatic snails), amphibians (toads, frogs, etc.) and aquatic plants (Madu, 2016). The development of the aquaculture sector became necessary as a result of the increased pressure on the globally available fisheries stocks (due to noxious fishing methods) and the growing human population which became clear that the capture fisheries have either reached their upper limit or near collapse (Committee for Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture of Africa, CIFAA, 2017). Aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of the world food economy, increasing by more than 10% per year and currently accounts for more than 30% of all fish consumed (Sea Web, 2004). Since 2000, world aquaculture no longer enjoys the high annual growth rates of the 1980s and 1990s (10.8 and 9.5%, respectively). Aquaculture continues to grow faster than other major food production sectors (FAO, 2016). Even though annual growth declined to a moderate 5.8% during 2001–2016, double-digit growth still occurred in a small number of individual countries, in Africa from 2006 to 2010 (FAO, 2016)
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