Professor Oluwayemisi Adeparusi has recommended the need to reduce fish feed cost by adopting the use of relevant technologies and inclusion of locally available ingredients, for the country to achieve self-sufficiency in fish production and leverage its vast ocean resource for export.
Adeparusi who is a Professor of Fish Nutrition, suggested this while delivering the 142nd Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, titled ‘Feeding Fish: An Art’, saying that the best option to change the fortune of fish farming is to first bring down the high cost of fish feed.
Volatility in the prices of certain globally traded commodities, particularly crops like wheat, soybean, maize as well as fluctuation in the prices of petroleum fuels and other transport costs, affects farmers negatively due to their impact on the prices of feeds.
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In small-scale aquaculture operations, feed can account for 80% or more of total production costs and rapid growth of the global aquaculture industry is driving greater demand for processed fish feed and its constituent ingredients.
The professor noted that the growing incidence of drought due to climate change is affecting the stability of agricultural production, adding that it has become imperative for farmers to look for alternative sources of protein in feeding fish.
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She recommended the establishment of a feed design laboratory and a functional high technology feed mill for fish in different institutions , especially in areas where fish farming is prevalent, adding that such laboratories would help in practical research and become centers for innovation and sustainability in the animal feed sector.
The vice-chancellor, Professor Joseph Fuwape, who was the chairman of the lecture hailed Professor Adeparusi as the first female professor in FUTA’s School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SAAT), describing her as a leading light and mentor to upcoming academics in her field of study.
