Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Nigeria’s domestic fish production is meeting less than a quarter of the country’s estimated requirement, the President of the National Fish Association of Nigeria, Ladan Aliyu, has said, calling for stronger government support and collaboration among farmers to bridge a supply gap that has left Africa’s most populous nation increasingly dependent on imports to meet its protein needs.
Aliyu spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during the inauguration of the association’s newly elected executive committee, where industry stakeholders raised concerns about inadequate domestic production, rising fish prices and the cost of importing frozen fish. “As fish farmers, we are currently producing less of the fish needed for consumption. Nigeria consumes about 300,000 metric tonnes of fish. Yes, that’s what we require. But for now, we are not producing even one quarter of it. And the importation brings in half of that quarter,” he said. The situation, he argued, underscored the need to strengthen domestic fish farming rather than rely heavily on imports to meet the country’s protein needs.
Aliyu said bringing fish farmers together under a sustainable cooperative structure would enable them to receive training, access production inputs and engage the government more effectively on policies that could expand output. He defended fish as an affordable source of protein compared with other animal-based foods, although he acknowledged that the depreciation of the naira had increased the cost of imported varieties. “The issue is that because of this exchange… the value of our currency. So that’s why we’re having such issues,” he said. The Deputy President of NFAN, Adewale Adewu, attributed rising fish prices partly to global market conditions and Nigeria’s dependence on imported supplies.
The figures Aliyu cited are consistent with data from the Federal Government and international organisations. The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has said Nigeria requires more than 3.6 million tonnes of fish annually, while domestic production stood at 1.4 million tonnes in 2025. The ministry estimates the gap between national demand and available annual supply at nearly 2.2 million tonnes. WorldFish, an international research organisation, puts Nigeria’s fish demand at 3.6 to 3.9 million tonnes yearly, with local production at only 1.2 million tonnes, leaving a staggering gap of 2.4 million tonnes filled through imports that cost the country more than 1.2 billion dollars annually. The average Nigerian consumes 11.3 kilogrammes of fish per year, well below the global average of 21 kilogrammes.
The shortfall has created a paradox in a country that is simultaneously the largest aquaculture producer in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the world’s largest importers of frozen fish. Nigeria spent about 1.2 billion dollars on fish imports in 2025 to cover its deficit, with imports rising 21 per cent to N521.4 billion, according to BusinessDay. Whole frozen herring and mackerel account for the largest share of those imports, sourced from about a dozen countries including the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, the Faroe Islands, China and Japan. The Food and Agriculture Organisation describes Nigeria as the world’s largest producer of African catfish, with annual production close to 1.2 million tonnes, yet the country still cannot feed itself.
Farmers point to a combination of structural constraints that have kept production below potential. The Federal Government has identified high feed costs, inadequate access to quality fish seed and broodstock, poor financing and weak fish-health systems as major challenges limiting fish production. Oyetola said high feed costs, limited access to quality seed and broodstock, post-harvest losses, inadequate cold-chain and storage infrastructure, gaps in research and innovation, weak data systems, inadequate standards and traceability, and poor market development were holding back the sector. The minister said domestic production remained substantially below national demand, with consequences for food security, household incomes and foreign-exchange resources. Feed alone constitutes over 60 per cent of total aquaculture production costs, and many farmers rely on imported feed that has become prohibitively expensive following the naira’s depreciation.
Farmers have also blamed inconsistent government policy for discouraging investment. Dr Olukayode Olubiyi, a fisheries expert at the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology, said Nigeria was undermining its drive for food security, job creation and foreign-exchange conservation through import policies that favour imported fish over locally farmed varieties. “When government allows the importation of fish species like tilapia, catfish and pangasius that we can produce locally, local farmers cannot compete. It takes six to seven months to raise fish, while importers bring in large quantities within weeks and sell at cheaper prices,” he said. He argued that Nigeria should only import species that cannot be produced under its climatic conditions, such as salmon and cod.
The government has taken some steps to address the crisis. In August 2026, Oyetola inaugurated a technical committee on accelerating fish production, giving it eight weeks to develop a practical roadmap to close the 2.2 million-tonne deficit. The committee was directed to move beyond policy formulation and develop an implementation matrix with priority interventions, responsible institutions, timelines, indicative costs, funding options and performance indicators. The ministry has also commenced engagements with financial institutions to provide single-digit interest loans to fish farmers nationwide. The National Agricultural Land Development Authority has unveiled plans to establish fish villages across riverine communities, starting with a pilot project in Akwa Ibom State, designed to provide infrastructure for organised groups of farmers rather than direct government involvement in production.
For Nigerian consumers, the implications are immediate. Fish remains a critical source of protein for millions of households, and the gap between demand and supply has kept prices elevated and left the market vulnerable to import dependency. For fish farmers, the challenge is existential. Without access to affordable feed, quality seed, cold-chain infrastructure and predictable policies, they cannot expand production to meet the demand that exists. As Aliyu put it, fish farmers need to organise themselves into sustainable cooperative societies, improve production capacity and work with the government to access essential inputs, training and supportive policies. The question now is whether the government’s technical committee can translate its eight-week mandate into a roadmap that delivers results, or whether Nigeria’s fish deficit will continue to widen as the population grows and domestic production fails to keep pace.
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