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By Christopher Oji
Farmers seeking to venture into fish farming in Delta North district of Delta State would soon get a boost in variety of fish types, technology and feeds as the Bioresources Development Centre, a Federal Government agency, is set to partner with Aniocha South Local Government Area to operationalise its facility in Ubulu-Uku.
The centre is expected to provide fingerlings of different fish types as well as back up technical and logistic support to farmers.
Ahead of the partnership, officials of the Centre last week presented a proposal on the activation of their facility in Ubulu-Uku to the Executive Chairman of Aniocha South council, Mr Jude Chukwunwike in Ogwashi-Uku.
The collaboration is expected to be effected with the revamping and rehabilitation of operational activities of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Abuja in Ubulu-Uku.
The centre is the only one in Delta State and just one of 25 centres built by NABDA across the country.
Presenting the proposal to Chukwunwike, the coordinator of the centre, Ms Chinenye Blessing Aruah, pleaded that the council to take urgent steps in ensuring that the Ubulu-Uku centre bounces back into operation.
According to Aruah, Ubulu-Uku as an agrarian community has a lot of resources that can be harnessed profitably.
Her words: “In the course of our stay in the community, we realised that Catfish is expensive due to the fact that it is not cultivated there. We learnt that the fish that is sold in Ubulu-Uku comes from Asaba leading to high retail price.
“So we found that Catfish has a big market in Ubulu-Uku and we have decided that we are going to train the people on how to nurse and grow fish; we will make fingerlings available for them”, Aruah said, adding that the most pressing need of the centre is perimeter fencing.
Responding, Hon. Chukwunwike expressed delight on the proposal. He noted the entire Aniocha South Local Government Area and Delta North senatorial zone is agrarian and will benefit from the reactivation of the agency’s facility in Ubulu-Uku.
