The Nutreco Catfish Sustainability Project has successfully produced over 1,300 farmers in Nigeria who farm catfish sustainably and profitably.
Making a difference in Nigeria
The Nutreco Catfish Sustainability Project has been empowering small scale farmers since its inception in 2015. The project team in collaboration with the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), an NGO, has provided farmers with technical trainings, advisory services and input support. To date, they have successfully produced over 1,300 farmers who farm catfish sustainably and profitably, aligned with our purpose of feeding the future.
One of the beneficiaries is Seun Ogundele, 38, a single mother of four who has found hope and a viable means of livelihood through the project. She got acquainted with the profession in 2019 when she relocated to Oyo state from Abuja, Nigeria. By watching her new landlady Mrs. Akinbiyi feed her fish, Seun found herself falling in love with fish farming. She became determined to enter the profession and excel at it. After receiving technical training through the initiative, Seun joined one of the cluster groups, and some successful fish farmers were assigned as her mentors.
She started gradually with few fish in a small pond in 2019, and flash forward to today – Seun now runs three big ponds currently. In 2024, she made an annual profit of over 2.5 million NGN (around EUR 1,500).
The project has created a community for many fish farmers like Seun where they can find support and grow together. Seun expressed her joy about the backing she gets from other farmers within her cluster. She mentioned a time she was away from her farm for three weeks and other farmers assisted in feeding her fish.
As a woman who has four children and who needed all the financial support she could get after her relocation, Seun is grateful for what she has received through the Nutreco Catfish Sustainability Project. She has a sustainable and thriving fish business through which she has been able to provide for her family.
The growth of the business has fuelled her passion, and she dreams of having a fish empire where catfish can be cultured from hatchery to adulthood.