RESEARCH INSTITUTES, WAAPP BOOST AQUACULTURE
Three Research Institutes in the country were in active collaboration with West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme, WAAPP, to boost aquaculture and improve fish production.
Prof Olufemi Peters, Executive Director of the Nigerian Stored Product Research Institute (NSPRI), Ilorin made this known on Monday in Ilorin in an interview with Daily Times
According to Prof Peters, the Research Institutes include NISPR and Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIMOR), Lagos.
The third institute, Prof Peter said was National Institute of Fisheries and Fresh Water Research (NIFFR), New Bussa, Niger State.
The NSPRI Boss said the three Institutes were mandated to find cost effective ways of mass production of fingerlings and fish meals locally in order to cut down costs of importing same into the Country.
Peters added that the Institutes were also tasked to fashion out cost effective and more hygienic ways of drying and packaging local fish in order to increase its shelve life without losing its original taste and add value to it.
Prof Peters said that objectives of the project centered on food and social security, increasing the country’s foreign exchange and income earnings especially those in aquaculture business.
“Based on these mandates, the three Research Institutes have designed, developed and fabricated smoking kilns, storage tank and dryers for fish,” Peters added.
Prof Peters disclosed that the Institutes have succeeded in developing modern and cost effective fish box that could preserve freshness of the fish for weeks and irrespective of the distance to the market.
He said the Institutes have also come up with ways of mass production of fingerlings locally using tilapia and cat fish species native to the Nigeria waters.
He added that NISPRI and NIFOR have been able to dry a species of Nigerian fish into stockfish using solar energy which still maintains same taste with the imported stockfish.
Professor Peters further said other breakthroughs recorded by the Research Institutes in the WAAPP sponsored aquaculture project were targeted at alleviating poverty in Nigeria and West Africa at large.
The NSPRI Boss said that because a lot of fish got spoilt in the cold room or during transportation, WAAPP commissioned NSPRRI to develop three in one smoking kiln which can use electricity, gas and kerosene.
He said besides that the WAAPP/NSPRI developed smoking kiln was portable and environment friendly, fish dried with the kiln is free of smoke emanating from the charcoal.
Prof Peters, who was the maiden Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), told DAILY TIMES, that the NSPPRI kiln has capacity to collect oil oozing from the fish being smoked thereby reducing waste.
The NSPRI boss said the Institute has designed three ways of packaging smoked fish that would increase its shelve live and make it possible to display such fish in supermarkets and even export same.
He said the products designed by the Research Institutes were aimed at poverty alleviation as they would lead to more jobs creation, reduce capital flight and boost food self sufficiency and social security.
Prof Peters therefore appealed to Federal, State Governments and Investors for financial assistance and adoption of the research
findings to drive small and medium enterprises in the country. Be it also known that the national Institute for freshwater fisheries research NIFFR new bussa has in time past developed the kainji gas kiln, free of smoke, producing desired fishproducts with no burnt fishes, economical with the end result being tasty fishes.
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