FISH PRODUCTION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN IKERE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EKITI STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Fish farming otherwise known as aquaculture is the science of growing aquatic organisms (plant and animal) under controlled ecological conditions. It is a diverse aspect of fisheries science.

Millions of people depend on fisheries for a living in Nigeria and undoubtedly, it is a source of employment of many (FAO, 2010). Majority of these people are small – scale, artisanal fisher seeking out a living from coastal and in-shore resourcesFish plays an important role in the diet of the people of developing nations. It is a very rich source of animal protein.

Fisheries and other related activities has been a major contributor to economic sustenance and stable food production in countries like Nigeria blessed with large coastal lines and other large water bodies like the years. Nwafili and Tianxiang (2007) reported that out of the estimated 120 million people in Nigeria in 2000, about one percent engages in fishing and over 24 million Nigerians depend on fisheries for their livelihood yet Nigeria imports over 600,000 metric tonnes of fish annually (Central Bank of Nigeria {CBN}, 2007).

Nigeria has a land area of 923,768km2 with a continental shelf area of 47,934km2 and a length of coast line of 853km. It also has a vast network of inland waters like rivers, flood plains, natural and manmade lakes and reservoirs.

Fish farming, a branch of aquaculture is defined as the raising of fish for personal use or profit (FAO, 1988). Voluntary Service Overseas (2002) describes fish farming as the rearing of fish in a controlled volume of water. However, when fish is raised in a pool of water in an enclosure, it is called fishpond. CBN (2007) reported that fish output increased by 5.8 percent to 635,200 tonnes in 2007 from 600,600 tonnes in 2006. The production through aquaculture also increased from 68,300 tonnes to 76,300 tonnes during the same period. However, the annual production level was much lower than the national demand of 1.5 million tonnes. This deficit was said to be partly augmented by massive importation of frozen fish ofabout 740,000 tonnes valued at 594.4 million US dollars which is certainly a big draw-downon scarce foreign exchange. Already Ekiti State Government is working towards self-sufficiency in fish production through aquaculture. According to Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives years in the state, ‘aquaculture has a potential of producing 500,000 tonnes of fish annually if fully harnessed’, a figure that can comfortably address the fish need of Nigerians.

Unfortunately, aquaculture production was only 85,087 tones in the State in 2007 despite its enormous water resources. Among the fisher folks are likely to be as a result of low scale of operations as well as degradation of fishing resources together with other stressors as opined by the FAO (2005). It is important to note that fisheries operators would produce within the limit of their knowledge.

One of the primary components of knowledge acquisition is that people are born without knowledge and that it is gained during a person’s lifetime. If man is empty of knowledge at birth, it means that knowledge is acquired in the world, farmer, who might be a civil servant, may construct a fishpond at his/ her backyard. Since he or she was not born with the knowledge of fish farming, the knowledge must be acquired from either experience or training. Thus a knowledge process was developed by Nonaka and Takenuchi in 1995 that data develop into information and information develops into knowledge and this develops into wisdom.

Since educational institutions are set up to transmit the useful aspect of societal culture, livestock including fish production should form integral part of the secondary school curriculum. The federal, state and local government should aim at intensifying effort on the production of livestock unit in our secondary school for the benefit of both the student and the society at large. For some time now in the country, agriculture as a sector of the economy has been experiencing crises. One of the major segment concerns of agriculture sector in the production of livestock is to increase and improve the protein intake of the people.

Ekiti state Agricultural Development Project (ADP), the project assists farmers in various ways to undertake commercial livestock production, in the past agriculture was thought as part of rural science, the trend was now changed through the application of modern sciences in Agricultural practices.

With the information and the introduction of new system of education, that is 6-3-3-4 system agriculture is made up of one of the core subjects, secondary schools are asked to establish livestock units which can serve as laboratories where classroom instruction are put into practices. Incidentally, emphasis on practical Agriculture on the farm seems to be directed mainly to growing of crops with apparent neglect of fish production in our secondary schools, this will help the schools to generate fund everywhere for development of the schools.

The students have much benefit from the establishment of livestock farms by secondary schools, Awosanya (1993) pointed out that the production of livestock farms by secondary schools would help the students to acquire the correct attitudes, knowledge and skills in fish production.

How to get complete project materials

Step 1: make payment of N3000 to any of the bank below

STEP 2: AFTER PAYMENT SEND THE PROJECT TOPIC AND YOUR MODE OF DELIVERY (EMAIL ADDRESS OR WHATSAPP) TO 08063666753