Chinese fish imports threaten growing domestic production



The influx of farmed Chinese tilapia and catfish into the Nigerian market, which became apparent in the first quarter of this year is posing a threat to the growing domestic production. Though the ministry of agriculture has said that farmed fish importation is illegal, the act is thriving, due to supply shortfall of over 1 billion table size pieces of fish annually.

Chinasa Asonye, owner of Chileo Fish Farm said though Nigeria’s fish farming industry may have recorded huge gains under the Jonathan administration, it is still not strong enough to withstand being overrun by cheap Asian fish flooding the market.

“I have been to one of the massive warehouses where frozen catfish were being sold in cartons by Chinese. I reported them to the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) and thereafter that warehouse in Ikorodu was shut down, but there are still several others.”

Tunde Sanni of Tee Ess Fish Farm, also expressed concern, saying that in addition to the infrastructural challenges Nigerian farmers are facing, this is a saddening development.

Some industry watchers however observed that fish supply still falls very short of demand, indicating that the illegal Chinese fish imports into the country are being inspired by demand. The current figure on total fish demand given by the agric ministry is 2.6 million metric tons. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) last report shows that at least 750,000 tons of fish in Nigeria is supplied by importation, while domestic supply is still at least 800,000 metric tons annually. Of these, only about 200,000 metric tons come from fish farming.

A table size piece of fish weighs approximately 1kg, this amounts to about 200 million pieces of fish supplied by fish farming, while the remaining domestic production comes from fish capturing. This indicates a shortfall in supply of about 1.05 billion pieces of fish, which may have led to the illegal importation.

Foluke O. Areola, Acting Director, Federal Department of Fisheries (FDF) in a statement says there is no license for importation of farmed catfish into the country.

According to her, the only licence issued by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is the issuance of Distant Water Fishing Licence Category C for the importation of frozen fish into the country. She says, “This is the only legal instrument for the importation of frozen fish and fish products into the country. This licence however is usually annotated “NON-IMPORTATION OF FARMED FISH”.

The Federal Department of Fisheries (FDF) is the competent authority responsible for issuance of such licences after approval has been given. However, the minister of agriculture has placed on hold the importation of frozen fish into the country since June, 2012 stating categorically “I do not approve fish importation.” FDF has therefore not issued any form of licence for importation of all fish and fish products into Nigeria, ever since.

She attributed the reported importation of fish species to the usual work of smugglers.

“It does not have the backing of the Federal Government as it has not been imported under licence. It has a correlation to the almost daily seizure of poultry products by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in spite of government’s ban on importation of poultry products,” she said.

“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through FDF carried out an exercise recently in March, this year during which the cold-rooms of large fish importing companies (Paramount Fisheries, Bharat Ventures, African Fish Company, C.I.C. Ltd., Premium Sea Food Ltd. Unifish Ltd and Admiralty Overseas Nig. Ltd.) were locked up for importing frozen fish into the country without licence,” our source revealed.

BusinessDay learnt that the minister of agriculture, in his consistent efforts at protecting local producers of farmed fish, has directed a total review of the procedure and requirements for the importation of frozen fish and has put in place measures to curb illegal importation of fish into the country. Some of the measures include collaboration with the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, an agency of the ministry, operating at all exit and entry points into the country.

The Federal Department of Fisheries, we gathered, has held consultations with the Nigeria Customs Service and its consultant - Crown Agents, on the introduction and implementation of the Custom’s E-window project.

The introduction of the new Custom’s E-windows operation is expected amongst others to drastically reduce illegal importation of agricultural products, including fish through our ports. Pending the full take off of the E-windows operation, the FDF has been directed to request NCS for its intervention in stopping the importation of the banned farmed fish and products into the country; and importation of frozen fish without licences.

The agriculture ministry is also putting in place a policy to effect a 25 percent systematic reduction in fish importation annually for the next four years, while simultaneously increasing fish production to bridge the gap between demand and supply at an increased local production of additional 250,000 metric tons of table fish per annum. The objective of the policy is to gradually phase out importation, to boost aquaculture production in ensuring the country’s self sufficiency in fish production.

Boss13: China and their desperation. Their exploit measures should be checked.

BusinessDay learnt that the minister of agriculture, in his consistent efforts at protecting local producers of farmed fish, has directed a total review of the procedure and requirements for the importation of frozen fish and has put in place measures to curb illegal importation of fish into the country. Some of the measures include collaboration with the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, an agency of the ministry, operating at all exit and entry points into the country.

Nigeria: The Tilapia From China



The last time I wrote on the "banana invasion", a handful of my friends, wondered why I am writing on what appeared to them as mundane issue. "Why not write on the burning issues of the day," one of them queried. "Such as?" I enquired. My friend continued by recounting my enormous experience in government. "You worked for over 10 years in the Villa, have been Minister three times, you should give us your perspective on the political maneuverings going on in the country."

Now, to me that is the problem. Everyone is speaking too much on politics and neglecting lively discourse on trade, agriculture and similar things that provide the citizens of our country the means for day-to-day survival. "For now, I will continue to write on issues on lopsided trade policies which places our farmers and industrialists at disadvantage by allowing unfair competition." I politely responded.

One of those major Nigeria contradictions that caught my attention recently, is the importation of Tilapia, a fish which can be produced in abundance in Nigeria. If you recently savored, a perfectly baked tilapia fish at home or at that favorite bukka joint anywhere in Nigeria, most likely it is imported from China. Yes, you heard me correctly, that tilapia you just ate and washed down with whatever your favorite drink is, most likely imported from far away China. My new knowledge that we are consuming tilapia from China was prompted from the reaction of my cousin on the article on the foreign banana importation.

My cousin, who joined me for dinner, noticing fat baked tilapia on the table, exclaimed, "I bet you that fish is from China." I immediately protested. How can I think even remotely that Nigeria would import tilapia, which is a common fish from Lagos to Maiduguri? Didn't the Ministry of Agriculture embark on an extensive programme to introduce tilapia fish farming in Nigeria to boost its production but mostly to provide jobs for the populace? My cousin must be joking I thought. But to my utmost surprise, and to prove to me that he is not lying, he placed a call to his fish seller. "Madam Bukka, the tilapia you are now baking, where is it from?" "China," she responded on the speakerphone. "sebi, you have my BB pin? Send the picture of the tilapia in the carton to me, now." After a few minutes, my cousin gave me his blackberry with an "I told you so grin on his face and when I looked at the screen of the phone, it was staring back at me! A Chinese packaged tilapia fish in Nigeria.

[b]For a moment, I began to imagine the ordeal the Chinese tilapia had to endure before getting into my wife's cooking pot. First, I reckoned it had to be harvested at a Chinese fish farm, then it will be marketed dead or alive by a Chinese entrepreneur, who will clean up, sprinkle some preservatives on it, then package it in a box with Made in China boldly printed on it, ready for shipment to us knowing that we buy anything in Nigeria.

A cursory investigation reveals that China is the largest exporter of tilapia in the world. Other leading suppliers are Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. It is reported that Iran and India have started massive tilapia farming. According to OA Fagbenro et al in their paper title, 60 Years of Tilapia Aquaculture in Nigeria, our country with over 25 species of tilapia is the second largest producer of farm-raised tilapias in Africa, after Egypt. Being the second largest producer of tilapia in Africa, one would have thought that Nigeria should be exporting tilapia to other African countries and not importing from China or any other country for that matter.
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Nigeria has no reason to allow massive importation of tilapia to the detriment of the potential for massive tilapia production in our nation. Raising a tilapia farm is not as they say, rocket science. Rather, it is an endeavor that can be done with over 90% locally sourced fish farm requirements and a little aquaculture input sourced locally. So why should Nigeria go through the same embarrassment of having to allow massive importation of tilapia into the country? On a daily basis our fish and shrimps stock worth billions of Naira is stolen from our territorial waters and to compound the embarrassing situation, we spend billions of naira also to import tilapia from China.

Something doesn't quite add up here. If we forget financial technicalities and just do a simple arithmetic, it is disheartening the amount of money that should have been earned by Nigerian entrepreneurs that we so freely allow to take a flight to far away china or the employment potentials and opportunities that we carelessly throw overboard as it were. Something fishy must be going on here! I think, and rightly so too, that Nigeria as a matter of urgent need should really re-examine its import policies especially in food related items that we have or ought to have advantage in. Since the last time I wrote about imported bananas, I have noticed that instead of abating, more new labels of banana have made it to Nigerian market.

This is in addition to tomatoes, pepper, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and vegetables that are easily grown in Nigeria. If you, doubt my claim, please visit any market, anywhere in the country to attest to this. It is demeaning, it is disheartening, it is uninspiring and it is destructive to the commercial fiber of our country and indeed a great threat to food security and job creation. No other nation that I know of would allow food to be taken out of the mouth of her citizens so brazenly as it is being done here in Nigeria.

We import mangoes while we have several species of mangoes rotting away stretching from Keffi all the way to Ogoja. We are importing peanuts, when the groundnuts of Kano are grown all over the country. There is imported bitter kola and kolanuts when the country can produce enough for its local consumption if not for export. Where and why have we acquired this psychological crave for things that are imported? Nigeria as a nation should step up her act in order to restore confidence in our locally manufactured goods and farm produce.

If it continues unabated like this, the impact would be too devastating to our collective psyche. Driving through a busy street the other day, I caught a glimps of the various food items displayed. I saw beans, I saw yam and I also saw garri. And in a split of a second, I just thought could it also be that the garri and yam that I saw are imports from Accra or Lome? At the rate at which we are careless about importations in our country, anything is possible.

Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, Publisher of the Hausa language Newspaper, Rariya, was a cabinet minister of Commerce, and later the Federal Capital Territory under the Obasanjo and Yar Ardua administrations.

ilugunboy: If there is no market...there won't be supply. If local producers can meet up demand, there won't be fish importation...someone have to fill the gap.

“It does not have the backing of the Federal Government as it has not been imported under licence. It has a correlation to the almost daily seizure of poultry products by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in spite of government’s ban on importation of poultry products,” she said.

ilugunboy: The insane activities of sea pirates on Nigeria high seas is a huge discouragement to Nigeria fish trawling companies...and most have sold off the fish trawlers to mostly people engaged in bunkering.

To stay in business that is allied...they all went into large scale fish importation.

If there is no market...there won't be supply. If local producers can meet up demand, there won't be fish importation...someone have to fill the gap.

9jadelta: made in china fish no go last for belle
anything made in china no dey last

DICKtator: Importation of fishes again? our waters are polluted so we have to import fishes to feed?

bknight: And I've been priding myself of not using anything china, so I cld hv been eating d chinese fish, licking my fingers & drinking happily while boasting of how I'd rather not use phone than use a made-in-china phone like Techno