The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ranked Nigeria as the Centre of Excellence for Fish Production in the West African sub region.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr.Shehu Ahmed, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during a validation workshop on the Evolution of National Centre of Specialization (NCoS) to a Regional Centre of Excellence (RCoE) in Aquaculture for the ECOWAS, stated that the new ranking would further facilitate increased visits by other West African countries for the uptake of new aquaculture technologies to boost fish production in the region.He saidthe West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP-Nigeria) has been working to boost aquaculture practice, by developing and releasing top-notch technologies in aquaculture for adoption in Nigeria and ECOWAS countries.

Shehu pointed out that the WAAPP, which is a World Bank programme, has succeeded in funding core research areas in the National Centre of Specialization, including fingerlings research, fish feeds research and post-harvest; that is processing, packaging and marketing research and adoption.The programme has also generated improved aquaculture technologies, including detachable smoking kiln, Briquette machine, solar tent dryer, multi-crop solar dryer, packaging materials, fish cooling boxes; which include the plastic and aluminiumtypes, and techniques for the production of all-year-round broodstock fingerlings (Clarias species).

The Acting Project Coordinator of the WAAPP, James OchemeApochi, said that the idea of having a Regional Centre of Excellence stemmed from the desire to share skills and investments of the participating ECOWAS countries, so as to optimize the impact of agricultural innovations on food security in the sub-region, through improved productivity and farm incomes.Maintaining that the country has met 9 major criteria set by the Regional Steering Committee used for the upgrading of the country to a Regional Centre of Excellence in fish production, he highlighted the criteria to include; framework for conducting agricultural research, a programme that meets national and regional demands, quality and adequacy of research teams, partnership and strategic planning and implementation of the programme.They also include; efficiency of the strategy of information and communication for development, contribution to the strengthening of the National Systems for Agricultural Research and Extension (SNRVA), promotion of research results and innovations, functional governance of the Centre and ISO Certification label.

A Director in the Nigerian Institute of Fresh Water Fisheries Research, Bankole Nathaniel, further explained that with the regional upgrade, other participating West African countries could now key into technology advancement in the country to boost their own expertise in fish production.Nathaniel said Nigeria is far ahead other West African countries in terms of aquaculture; for instance, the country has perfected technologies in the raising and feeding of fingerlings, adding that they have also improved technologies in feed production.“Other West African countries can key into these technologies by partnering with us, and stationing in Nigeria, they can uptake these technologies that are generated via aquaculture practice,”he said.He however said Nigeria is closing its deficit in fish production, giving an instance of the increasing number of fish farms across the country.