Fish farmer vs fish seller

The disparities, tales and journeys of starting a food chain  

Have you ever thought to be a fish farmer, maybe even attending fish farming trainings, conferences, taken courses? I know a lot of people have. I have a lot of family members who did, it was random and  uncoordinated for all of them, they all went differently in the hopes of becoming big fish farmers, some took short courses, others took long courses almost quantifiable to taking a degree. 

The truth is, Fish farming has this lure, the excitement, to feed fishes and hear the splashing waters and watch fish go from tiny fingerlings to big table ready fish, which makes it look lucrative. You already forecast all kinds of possibilities, and if you’re like most, you bring out your calculator and do some multiplication on what is possible to earn. 

Well, for most, the first cycle of raising fish is the practical they need to know if they can physically handle some of the pressures of being a fish farmer. The short or long courses that were learnt become real life exercises and experiences, everything from feeding frequencies , stocking density, water changes, acidity, stock management and a whole lot more, above all, it tests your patience. With fish growing for 6 to 8 months to be ready for consumption, it truly tests your patience and your financial skills for all manner of fish farmers, those who took loans or grants, those in partnerships and those who managed to get friends and family goodwill funding. 

Nigeria is a country with a lot of farming support at face value, it however doesn’t really translate to help for everyday farmers asides those in cooperatives that are targeted by government for political reasons. Agricultural loans that are supposed to be accessible at single digits are nonexistent or strenuous to get without connections or bribe. Some farm empowerment schemes and initiatives were and are geared towards fairness to access and worked as such, but have quickly been hijacked by wranglers from within their organizations who often come to understand the workings of the application process often exploiting applicants or cashing out on loopholes within the system. 

This lack of support often exposes farmers to heavy financial risk as inflation and other unforeseen circumstances greatly affect farm operations, feedstock and inventory, financial forecasts and the final selling prices. Where these support mechanisms were to be available they would help to cushion the effects of inflation and add to the local or national reserves. Financial support also helps to cushion the fluctuating prices of feedstock acting as hedges for farmers within their growing cycles. 

Farmers without any form of financial support have to bear the cost of all that is seen and all that is unseen, even with a comprehensive business plan, financial forecast and various financial instruments, farming in Nigeria can humble you if you’re not careful. This means that farmers bare the cost of infrastructure, cost of operations, cost of uncertainties, uncertainties from fluctuating cost of inputs, against stagnant selling prices, making presale expenditure swallow up future revenues. Then there is the profit or revenue generated per cycle divided by the amount of time the cycle was run for. Let’s take this practical example of a farmer who made N1,000,000 in revenue from the sale of all his fish over a fish cycle (6 to 8 months, but in this case we’ll use 8 months) but within that revenue only made N300,000 in profit after the expenses were removed. A whooping N700,000 went back into the farm as operations costs and expenditures. At the end of one fish cycle you quickly realize that you spent almost a whole year to making N37,500 for 8 months. 

So!, after 8 months you finally get a paycheck, oh wow, farmer now needs to start off another batch of fish after the first successful batch, meaning they don’t get to earn again till another 8 months. Pumping in all their money into the farm for another 8 months, only this time the some finances have changed, like the cost of feed has risen and so has some other farm inputs needed for farm operations. Farmers who have the strength and willpower go on to realize that they need to run more cycles within a year, running multiple batches concurrently often staggering them  2 to 3 months apart. Seems neat right, however, the costs of maintaining several tanks of fish or ponds also quickly escalates, translating to heavy financial burdens without financial support. 

In all this, the fish sellers or fish distributors don’t bare the cost of anything. They buy from the fish farmers at an agreed price that is sure for them to make their profits, maybe the only costs on their path is the cost of transportation and temporary storage. But they know their profit margins, thus their agreed price with the farmer. Fish sellers and distributors have a large market, sometimes even larger than the farmers. They also have access to other farmers meaning they are not limited by cycles and can buy ponds or tanks of fish every week if they need it, oblivious to the cost of infrastructure, cost of operations, time it takes to grow a fish cycle, fish losses and many other factors that farmers have to bare. 

Farm loans need to undoubtedly be made available for farmers to help support their farms and cushion the effects of inflation and financial risk. 

Farmers need a proper marketplace, offtaker agreements (PPP export reserves), use of sureties or feed-in tariffs to incentivize production to improve local and national reserves which can also serve settlement of loans. 

Written by Mundez

edmundez@me.com

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