Things are looking brighter in the agricultural sector as Fishery stakeholders at the recently completed aquaculture capacity building workshop made a general call for the registration and certification of all local fishery products for export or import.
The stakeholders made the call at the end of the four-day training organised by the Norwegian Seafood Council to boost local aquaculture exports in Lagos on 11-13 May 2022.
The call among other recommendations by the stakeholders is contained in a communiqué signed by all participants at the workshop.
The stakeholders include officers of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Federal Department of Fisheries, Nigeria and Norwegian Customs, Norwegian Seafood Council, National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Fish farmers, processors and exporters.
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The recommendations to the Federal Government assert that the Federal Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture is the Competent Authority for the Certification of all fishery products for import and export purposes.
They said that the Federal Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture in collaboration with the States would register all fish farms across the nation for export, inspection, data collection, planning and record purposes.
The stakeholders also noted that the Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture in collaboration with the States should categorise registered fish farms according to scale of operations – micro, small, and medium, large.
According to the communiqué, relevant authorities should grant Investors along the Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Chain some leverage on tax to enable them set up their bill boards/signposts for a comprehensive statistical fish investments database.
They demanded for the delisting of stock fish and Stock fish heads from the list of items not approved for forex by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The stakeholders also harped on the need to hasten the completion and perfection of the Aquaculture Residue Monitoring Plan for approval to enable export of farmed fish into the EU and other countries.
