Benjamin Onozeyi Dimowo
Food security in Nigeria is constantly under threat because of resource use inefficiencies and post-harvest losses. This situation is further worsened by frequent religious extremism and tribal clashes in the Northern region which supplies most of the food in the country.
As a result of this, there is an annual supply gap of 1.78, 0.7 and 0.35 million metric tonnes respectively in fish, tomatoes and pepper which is met by importation. Recent government policy aims to ban importation by 2022.
AquaChen Enterprises currently rears catfish seeds to eatable sizes (0.25 - 1.2kg) using only a small piece of its one-acre land holding and this generates 10,000 litres of wastewater daily. We intend to embark on integrated production of pepper, tomatoes and exotic fruits all year round.
Key resources required to deliver these include: unpolluted land, perennial water source, farm inputs (such as fish seeds, feeds, tomato and pepper seedlings etc.), greenhouse facility, other farm gadgets/equipments and labour.
Our target customers include: Caterers (hotels, eateries etc.), market women and private individuals. They will be reached by word of mouth, social media marketing, strategically located banners, radio jingles and advertisement.
Our competitive advantage includes high level of resource utilization efficiency, cost effectiveness of the system, diversified sources of income, environmental protection and sustainability.
In the first year of integration, we project a revenue of 8.01 million naira with a net profit margin of 43% generated from sales of farm produce (catfish, pepper and tomato)
We seek funding and mentorship to expand the coverage of our business from solely producing Catfish for the food market to integration with vegetables (pepper and tomato) production. We intend to plough back revenues into the business until sustainability is reached.
Agribusiness, fish farming, environmental management
