HOW TO START A CATFISH FARMING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA

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This article comes with a free business plan for a Catfish production.

IS CATFISH FARMING PROFITABLE?

Catfish farming has proved to be very lucrative for everyone involved in the industry, from the feed makers, pond constructors, producers. This article will cover how to start a catfish farming business in Nigeria.

Catfish farming has been broken down into two parts, where each phase can be operated independently and can be sure to yield profit and can also be integrated and practiced as two halves of a whole block. They are Fry Farming and Market Age Fish Farming. The market age fish farming cannot be carried out without the nursery, at least not efficiently, you’ll understand why. But as I said earlier, each part can be ventured into independently.

The Fry Farming involves fertilization, incubation, and hatching of eggs laid by the female fish, the hatchlings are called “fries”, where the name of the venture comes from, and are nurtured onto fingerlings after four weeks, this is pretty much the end of the fry fish farming, the fingerlings can then be sold out to farmers who buy the fingerlings for the Market Age Farming.

The Market Age farmer needs a nursery for the phase between the two parts which involves growing the fingerlings into juveniles and this occurs for three weeks, after this phase the fishes can then be transferred into a pond and then reared to market age which they will attain after four to five months.

Catfish farming is a major investment operation. And so, starting one requires careful consideration. Embarking on the journey to venture into the business has to be done carefully and these steps are listed to guide any reader who finds it promising;

Land Acquisition

Land, an important factor. A plot of land is fair enough and it has to be situated where it has access to good roads because of the transportation of the fishes to the market after they attain market weight. After the land has been acquired the ponds have to be constructed, a farmhouse has to be erected. A source of uninterrupted power supply has to be in place and a good drainage facility. The drainage has to be top-notch to prevent pollution and nuisances.

Pond Planning

The size of the pond has to be deliberated on and this is a mirror that directly reflects the scale of the business, the pond size directly depends on the scale of the business. The system, type of water circulation, and type of the pond should be chosen.  There are different types of ponds – Plastic pond, earthen ponds or concrete pond

Construction Considerations

These questions should be taken into consideration to construct a good pond for the fishes;

Where should the pond be located?

Will the source meet the minimum flow requirements required by the fishes?

Is the water supply suitable for catfish farming?

Is the area good for siting a pond considering the composition of the soil and permeability?

Water Supply Source

A borehole is considered as the best source of water on a catfish farm, the supply has to be steady so the need for two to three units should be included in the budgets. Tanks for holding water should be on elevated platforms and there should never be a shortage of water, you have to make sure.

Pond Design and Construction

An expert should be consulted for the construction of the pond, but before employing the services of an expert, there are a few things you should ensure, the flatness and the steepness of the site and the source of water are the most important as we have said earlier in the article. Flat topographies that has access to a well can sustain a 180^o leveled pond. Watershed ponds are built for steeper areas near a natural source of water. The depth of the pond is also crucial; it influences the oxygen levels in the pond for the fish, also the amount of fishes in the pond affects the amount of oxygen available to each fish, overcrowding should be avoided.

After the whole production process has been completed, yielding maximum profit boils down to marketing and some little things like determining buyer requirements. Harvest could be sold to fish processors or directly to consumers.

Is catfish farming profitable? Yes it is. We created a sample business plan here for entrepreneurs looking to invest in the business.

How To Download Catfish Farming Business Plan Template PDF and Doc (with financial analysis)

Above is a part of the Catfish farming business plan template in Nigerian. If you need the complete business plan, follow the procedures to download it.

Pay the sum of N5000 (Five thousand naira only) to the account detail below:
Bank: GTBank
Name: Oyewole Abidemi (I am putting my name and not our company account so you know we are real people and you can trust us)
Ac/No: 0238933625
Type: Saving

Thereafter, send us your email address through text message to +234 701 754 2853. The text must contain the title of the business plan you want and also your email address. Immediately after the confirmation of your payment, we will send the Catfish farming business plan in Nigeria to your email address where you can easily download it.