Ibadan – The Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN) in Oyo State has begun production of fish crackers as a local alternative to imported prawn crackers, a popular snack among Nigerians.

The state’s CAFAN Chairperson, Mrs Modupe Awoyomi-Kolade, in Ibadan said that this was in line with the Federal Government’s initiative of discouraging importation of food.

Awoyomi-Kolade spoke on the sidelines of CAFAN training programme on fish crackers in Ibadan.

She said the training programme was in collaboration with West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (WECARD).

CAFAN’s decision to source for local alternatives, she said, was to overcome the challenge of dwindling foreign exchange facing Nigeria presently.

According to Awoyomi-Kolade, the production of such snacks locally will save the country millions of dollars.

“It will help Nigeria earn more foreign exchange as we will be able to export the snacks to other countries with time.

“Nigerians organising parties and other social events will also have such snacks handy to serve as appetisers for their invited guests.
“Parents can also include it in their children’s lunch boxes,’’ she added.

The chairperson urged catfish farmers in the country not to abandon the profession, adding that the future was very bright through the value addition being espoused by CAFAN with fish crackers.

“Do not be discouraged by dwindling sales caused by the economic downturn. Go for catfish crackers production as a viable alternative,’’ she said.

She recalled that the value addition for fish cracker production initiative was adopted by CAFAN members when they noticed a gradual decline in sale and demand for catfish due to economic downturn.

“In order to boost profit, we went for production of smoked fish among other things.

“Yet the situation did not change much, after this, we decided to embark on canning of catfish but this was capital intensive.

“We, then, observed that party snacks like prawn crackers cost plenty of dollars to import.

“ This made us to talk to researchers on possible local alternatives.

“Also, we want to key into the present government’s agriculture initiative which encourages local production by looking inward because the country cannot afford dollars for importation of food,’’ she said.

Awoyomi-Kolade noted that local production of fish crackers was cheaper than importing prawn crackers.

She added that it would also empower interested Nigerian fish farmers economically.

“Fish and cassava are used in producing the catfish crackers.

“ We include fish oil which contains omega H3. This oil is good for the brains of babies just forming to enable them have retentive memory.

“Drugs containing the oil is also usually recommended for pregnant women,’’ the chairperson said.

Awoyomi-Kolade said the training initiative on value addition and product development of farm raised catfish was also supported by the Department of Fishery and Aquaculture, University of Ibadan.

She said participants would train other catfish farmers to ensure the spread of local fish crackers production to all the local government areas of Oyo State and the country at large.