He disclosed this during a graduation ceremony of 38 females who received training on fish spawning and breeding in Kano on Wednesday.
The director-general who was represented by the Kano State Coordinator of NABDA, Kabiru Yusuf, said the country which requires 3.2 million tonnes of fish is currently producing a total of 1.1 million tonnes of fish, thereby leaving a huge gap of 2 million tonnes in the supply of fish.
Her words: “In 2014 alone, Nigeria imported 8,000 metric tons of fish thereby employing foreign producers to feed Nigerians thus depleting our hard-earned resources and foreign exchange. The gap in the supply of fish in the country is enormous.”
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A related research shows that poultry demand is losing about 532 billion tonnes annually to smuggling of poultry products. The country requires about 2 million tonnes of poultry, but Nigerian farmers are able to produce 300,000, thereby leaving a gap of 1.7 million tonnes annually.
President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, who disclosed this during the 2015 Nigeria poultry summit, added that smuggling of frozen chicken into Nigeria was a major challenge facing the sector.
His words “While the local demand for frozen chicken is above two million metric tonnes annually, Nigerian farmers are only able to produce 300,000 metric tonnes, leaving a wide gap of more than 1.7 million metric tonnes. Out of this figure, smuggled chicken accounts for 1.2 million metric tonnes annually.”
The research further revealed that an increase has been projected in beef consumption in the country by 2050.
The former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, had buttressed the need to get the nation’s livestock system working properly in order to meet the increasing demand for beef.
His words “The total amount of beef we eat is about 360,000 tonnes a year; we expect that to increase to 1.3 million tonnes by 2050.
“We need to invest in animal genetics, in artificial insemination and modernise our abattoirs in the country.’’