In a bid to achieve food security in Nigeria, the Fisheries Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (FCFN) has demanded the creation of a national Task Force on fisheries to strengthen the organizational capacities and participation of fishing communities in policy formulation and implementation processes.
In the agenda submitted to the government, titled, “Revitalization of the Fisheries and Aquaculture industry of Nigeria for sustainable creation and revenue generation”, the group said that the sector can eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and increase income to millions of poor households through fish capture, processing, trade and allied industries.
The cooperative also noted that the fishery sector plays multiple roles in the national economies of West and Central African countries, some of which are not well documented by national statistical systems.
Part of the report reads: “These contributions are important for achieving food security and poverty reduction – essential elements of global development strategies as expressed in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“With recent projections suggesting that over 60 percent of the poor will be in rural areas by 2025, the current focus is aimed at dealing with rural poverty. Yet, while evidence indicates that the fisheries sector can contribute to improved livelihoods and the achievement of food security in many developing countries, the sector has often been neglected in national poverty reduction strategies.
“One important way by which the fishery sector contributes to national economies is in terms of direct and indirect employment. There are an estimated 10 million fishers in sub-Saharan Africa, 7 million of which are from West and Central Africa. These are mainly fishermen, fish processors and fish traders, but other derived jobs should be added to this figure.
“The post-harvest sub-sector provides women with many jobs, playing an essential role in the economic and social development. In Congo, for example, between 80 and 90 percent of the fish traders are women. This has an immense impact on household well-being, particularly the health and education of children.
“Value added generated by the fisheries sector substantially increases national wealth. However, assessing this contribution in national accounts is generally limited to the primary sector, i.e. the catching or farming of fish through the first sale of fish products.
“To obtain an accurate estimate of the total value added by a given sector, it is necessary to take into account all activities, including those related to the secondary and tertiary sectors. In the case of fisheries, the secondary sector includes processing activities (drying, salting, smoking, freezing, etc.) and the tertiary includes activities related to trade (of fresh, processed and imported products) and catering.
“Both employment and revenue in the fisheries sector have induced multiplier effects in other sectors of the economy – highlighting the sector’s importance to national economies as a whole. For example, when the number of fishermen increases or decreases, a “domino effect” is created. Fish processors and traders are obviously affected but so are boat builders, fuel providers, wood sellers and other less financially rewarding, often temporary and unrecorded jobs, which provide a real “safety net” for the poor.
“These include unloading fish from a canoe, breaking ice blocks, cleaning, packing and transporting fish. In many places, the catering sector is also very dependent on the good health of the fishery sector. Unlike most rural populations, fisherfolk earn cash income on a daily basis.
“This income is used to purchase goods and services from other sectors of the economy, which makes the fisheries an important engine driving local economic development.
“Fisheries activities have a strong multiplier effect on revenue and therefore a strong “domino effect” on the rest of the economy. This means that an investment in the fishing sector generates additional revenue in the national economy”.
In the document the cooperatives also made some demands on the government which includes “establishing a national Task Force for poverty alleviation in fisheries and strengthening the organizational capacities and participation of fishing communities in the policy formulation and implementation processes.
“Assisting small-scale producers to access both national and international markets and addressing factors that make small-scale fisherfolk vulnerable and currently reduce their capacity to contribute to poverty reduction and participate in resource management and fisheries policymaking”.