Nigeria’s catfish farmers celebrate unity, but consider new species

The event was in part organised to help heal the rift between the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN) and the breakaway faction called Catfish and Allied Fish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFFAN) – both of which pledged to reunify this summer. During the event former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who founded CAFAN, cut a “Unity Cake” and shared it among the leaders of the two former factions, to loud applause from delegates. Obajanso called on the farmers to fuse their processes, plans and structures together before selecting leaders. He said that it was extremely important to bring together all stakeholders in the aquaculture value chain. He also said that “farmers are cheated when we don’t add value to what we produce, so that we can maximise what we get for our labour”. The President of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria, Dr Lukman Adegoke, called for the “synchronisation of sales”, to deal with the current situation, in which prices are dictated by ...