Meet Gbenga Kehinde, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University in his early 30’s. He hails from Abeokuta, but he lives in Ijebu Igbo in Ogun state which were his fish farm is located. Gbenga has been practicing agriculture right from his secondary school days. He started a fish farming business in 2006. He raises catfish from fingerlings to table size using earthen ponds. He said he ventured into catfish farming after his service year when he needed something that would bring in an income for him. According to him, all things being equal you can make around 50-100% profit on your investment but it requires hard work.
Gbenga encourages people to get involved in catfish farming as it can be run on a part-time basis.
When asked about the capacity of his farm, he said he has about 6000 fishes scattered in a number of fish ponds. Gbenga does not believe you have to own land to start catfish business. Ponds can be rented from different pond owners, in fact his ponds are rented and they cost between N30,000 to N50,000 per annum depending on their sizes.
In terms of challenges, he said his major challenge is capital. Theft is another major challenge and then the problem of fixing market prices. “Presently, we don’t have any mechanism for pricing which is why its easy for merchants to determine the prices we sell our produce. If the government can put a mechanism in place to control prices of produce, it would be really advantageous. He also stated that he cannot access low interest loans although various agriculture development programs exist, those initiatives don’t get to the grassroots. They simply don’t get down to the farmers who really need it.
His advice to intending catfish farmers is that they should learn the trade from experts. They should make sure they secure enough capital before they start the business because if you want to raise 1000 fingerlings to table size for instance, you will need about #400,000 from the get go, so as not to get stuck halfway
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