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Catfish farming is one of the profitable aspects of agriculture. Catfishes are easy to farm in warm climates, leading to inexpensive and safe food at local grocers. It can be very lucrative when raised properly and well managed by the fish farmer.
Catfish can be raised either for personal use or for commercial purposes. raised in inland tanks or channels are considered safe for the environment, since their waste and disease should be contained and not spread to the wild.
You can decide to start a small scale catfish farming business if you are a beginner inorder to understand the business fully before venturing into catfish rearing business in a large scale for more profits.
With many catfish pond near me (ponds) and some catfish farmers raising channel catfish fingerlings for sale near me, raising a commercial catfish farming business will definitely not be as difficult as it sounds with proper guide even if you are a beginner.
The requirements for rearing African catfish include;
However, out of all the basic requirements, the most important is Water. Catfish can survive more than 7 days without eating, but cannot survive in bad water with poor oxygen for 30 minutes.
That our water is looking clean does not mean the water is healthy. That is why it is important to do your water test to protect your fish water from being contaminated.
Catfish farming has several stages of production, namely;
This feasibility study prepared for a catfish farm capacity of 10,000 and juvenile catfish where to be stocked. The expenses from pond construction to marketing is considered.
The farm is to have 10 concrete ponds of flow through system and each pond is to contains 1,000 stocked catfish.
Cost of Constructing Each Pond is
as Follows:
Each pond is 3m x 2.5m by 1.4m, each pond consumes 210
blocks and each bag of cement for 30 blocks. Hence 210 x 10 = 2,100
blocks. 2,100/30 = 70 bags of cement needed. 2400 x 70 = 168,000
naira.
4trips of sand used = 7,000×4 = N28,000
2trips of gravel = 32,000x 2 = N64,00
Cost of labor = N150,00
Cost of plumbing (inlet and outlet facility) = N100,000.
The cost of bore hole = N150,000.
Cost of treatment = N50,000.
The cost of juvenile 30×10,000 = N300,000.
Cost of feeding from day one to maturity stage is 200 bags of foreign feed = N1,000,000.
After the average weight of the fish was 1.7kg. And it was sold at 800 naira each. The output was 800×9800 fishes, due to 200 mortality. 800 x 9800 = N7,840,000.
Input is N3.25’million. The profit is N4.59 million after six months of culture. Following this cost analysis, you can easily invest N3 million and expect good turnover within six months of harvest and sell.
There is no doubt that fish farming is among the list of lucrative businesses in Nigeria. You need to get it right by drawing complete business plan and following it to the later.
As mentioned earlier, there are various pond systems of rearing catfish. However, the most common types used in Nigeria and easy to control are;
You choose your pond system based on the phase of production you want to focus on as each type of pond system performs better under different production phases. For instance, you can’t do hatchery in an earthen pond. Likewise, growth production is suitable in an earthen pond.
Also, you will need expert advice when choosing your pond as there are other factors needed to be considered but are peculiar to every individual.
Setting up the ponds is not difficult. The volume of space you have available will determine the method and cost of your pond construction.
Inorder to achieve an optimum performance from your catfish farming business, below are some catfish breeding practices you should pay close attension to:
You need to apply good management skill and follow the acceptable standard. If you do all these, you are sure to make good profit from your fish farming business in Nigeria.
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