By Sijibomi Fatayo
Members of the Erunwen Balogun Cooperative Agric Multipurpose Society in Ikorodu, Lagos State suffered a huge setback when floodwater surged into their fishponds.
The cooperators said they incurred huge losses estimated in the millions as the hundreds of thousands of catfish they had taken pains to nurture to mid-maturity were washed away into the open lagoon.
Their trouble began when rain started falling non-stop from Saturday, August 27 till late night on Sunday, August 28, 2016, before it subsided. The resulting flood flowing from different parts of the metropolis emptied into the stream, which rose and overflowed its banks. As water would naturally find its level, the excess water invaded the ponds, overflowed the barriers established to keep the fish within the ponds. As the water level was higher than the barriers, the fish were swept away.
This unfortunate outcome expectedly caused the fish-farmers deep anguish, when viewed against the background that they invested huge amounts to develop the ponds.
As part of measures to boost the economy and reduce importation of foods and agricultural produce that can be sourced in the country, while creating employment, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) barred 40 products, including frozen products (especially fish) from accessing the foreign exchange window. The enforcement of the ban on the items took a toll on the price of the products in the markets across the country. Many people therefore turned to buying fishes from the local fish farms, thereby encouraging many people to invest in fish farming. The downpour buffeting Lagos in recent times, has left earthen pond fish farmers in panic mode.
The farmers took steps to protect their growing fish from being washed away, but in the light of what happened, the measures failed to achieve the objective as the fish were carried away by the flood.
Lamenting his loss, one of the farmers, Obalusi Ajayi, 45, who had been into farming for nine years, said that after the first time his fish were washed away on June 15, 2016, he had to buy wire-mesh, anchored it on the bed of the pond, so that when flood water flowed into the pond, the fishes would remain. Sadly, the last weekend of August brought more rain than they bargained for as his investment of N1.5 million went with the rain.
“Looking at the climatic change and the weather forecast, you can see that the level of rainfall has been higher than every other year which made it difficult for our own preventive measures to absorb the water that came. Like what happened in the last week of August, which was the highest, in fact, we could not even swim to the ponds, no one could go into the ponds; the flood overflowed the barrier we put in. The devastation was enormous, now we are scared to begin gathering money again to invest because of the fear of losing the money. There is no way a farmer can gather strength to do such a project,” he said.
Mrs Olubunmi Lawal, an indigene of Ogun State who relocated to Nigeria from the United Kingdom in 2013, nine years after her husband’s death went into fish-farming in 2014. She bought acres of land in the swamps to build her ponds. A seller of poultry feeds and medicine, she employed someone to mind her shop while she spends her days tending the fish. The losses she experienced this year was a huge blow; she is still shell-shocked by the loss of N8 million to the flood in one year.
Her words: “It is only God who has kept us all standing. We are talking of over a hundred ponds only in Erunwen, which runs into millions of naira. The Federal Government kept telling us to come back home to rebuild and invest in our country. Those of us who came back, we are regretting that we did. I came back to engage in commercial farming, and now I am wondering if I have not made a huge mistake. I lost N8 million naira in four to five months. I lost 17 ponds the first time in June and now 10 ponds in August. The Federal Government is encouraging farming but they are not doing what they need to do. Farming is not just about planting. There are other angles to agriculture. All that people are shouting for is rice. Rice is carbohydrate. If they have the rice, where is the protein they also need to eat? Fish gives protein. Yet, you are not encouraging farmers in that area. Poultry farmers are groaning. I have people who come and buy feed here. What they use it for, they can’t get their money back. What is the government doing to encourage us? At least I have heard of two people who died. The last time, I heard someone from Erunwen died. This time around, because it affected so many people, in Ijebu-Ode, two people died. They nurtured fish for nine months. It costs more than a million to nurture one pond. So for someone to see 10 ponds go just like that, the man just collapsed immediately. He didn’t get to the hospital. He died there. You just have to turn your mind away from this disaster, otherwise something will hit you. I have a child in the university and another child in secondary school. I am a widow myself. If I allow this stress to kill me again, who is going to care for my children?”
On his part, Lawal further said that a lot of them borrowed money from banks to continue after the flood took away the fish they got with their own personal money. Now that the water has taken the fish away, they all wonder how to pay back their debts.
The chairman of the association, Mr. Abdulrasak Jaiyesinmi, 57, who lost 19 ponds of full baked fish in June valued at N9.7million was so downcast, he could not speak to Sunday Sun. Another member, Mr. Fayemi who started fish farming in 2012 lost N2.7 million and does not have a single fish in any of his ponds.
Today, many of them are idle and their workers are at home because there are no fish to tend anymore. With several of the fish farming settlements affected, no fewer than 100 workers have been thrown out of jobs. The indigent people in the area who beg the farmers for fish to feed their families are also at a loss because they don’t get anymore.
Mr. Clement Abayomi said that he was not used to sleeping in the afternoon because he had to be at work before sunrise and leave at the sunset but due to the recent happenings, he has been sleeping in the afternoons to wile away time and calm himself down.
The genesis
Secretary of the Association, Mr Ajayi told Sunday Sun that the Fish Farmers Association which was registered as a cooperative and had existed for the past 12 years. Occupying nothing less than 15 acres of land in the swamps, so that ponds could be constructed in the natural habitat of the fish, the farmers had never experienced the problem of flood or too much water until construction work began on the Awolowo Road in Ikorodu and canals were diverted into the swamp. Later, a dredging equipment was brought to channel the canal to its right route but it stopped just three kilometers to the fish farm. Due to this, there was no way the excess water would spread. The first experience they had was in 2012 when they lost a lot of fish. Although their plight was communicated to government in writing, Ajayi said they didn’t get any meaningful response. To avoid reoccurrence, the farmers put wire mesh in each of the ponds to bar the fish from going out of the ponds should the water level rise. Sadly, the pressure of the water which went into the swamps in June was so high, it crashed the wire mesh and the fish went out with the water.
Mrs Lawal narrated how she and another farmer tried to save their fish but they saw death and had to give up: “Alfa and myself work together. We entered the farm by six in the morning. The rain began while we were there. Gradually, it gathered and got to my upper chest region (indicated above her breast region) because we were trying to save the fish. Some minutes after 7pm, we said, ‘Look if God wants to save these fish, He will keep them here. We managed to come out and by then, you could not see any pond or swamp. To even walk out of where we were was a big problem. So because it rained overnight the second time, before we got to the farm, the water had overtaken the whole farm.”
The way forward
The farmers who said most of them are retired and have plunged their life savings into this business only to have it taken away from them pleaded that the state government should come to complete the canal project, which was left half way. Ajaiy affirmed that several letters had been written to the Director of Fishery in the Ministry of Agriculture who contacted the Ministry of Environment but got back to that cooperative that there is no budget for completing the road. Alfa, one of the farmers said: “There is a canal from Water Corporation at Ota –Ona. All they need to do is dredge the remaining few kilometers and link it to the major canal from Ota Ona to Igbe. The major thing that we want is the channeling of the carnal. This rainy period is when the fish will eat and do well. This government can help us with feeds and production of the fingerlings. But first, the canal problem must be solved. We cannot do fish farming unless that is done else we will continue to lose money.”