CATFISH FARMING, THE RISK AND THE GIANT PROFITS

Thank you to our wonderful fans, I have received a lot of in-box messages to update This our article of 2013 with its title (CATFISH FARMING, THE RISK AND THE GIANT PROFITS) for the benefit of our fans and those who intend to go into catfish farming. Due to the increase in price of feeds each and every day, I found it difficult to update this Article. Today I decided to give a highlight for the benefit of those who will buy fingerlings from Us. As I also promise to give them more lectures on how to cut costs up to 30 to 40 percent based on if you buy fingerlings from me.

Remember, I said the lecture is for those who buys fingerlings from us. If you call me on the phone with tricks to get information or this lecture from me pretending as if you want to buy fingerlings from us don't bother because I will never ever say anything to you.

I will try as much as possible to make it accurate. As I will leave most write-up, as they are still relevant to the benefit of those who did not have the opportunity to read the first update. I will change the figure, I mean the prices to suit our market of today.

CATFISH, popularly called Mudfish and or Adwene in Akan is the most popular fish in places like Nigeria, Benin and Togo and commands much more respect than Tilapia does in Ghana. It is traditionally served in beer bars in plates of hot spicy pepper soup.

In Ghana, There are varieties of the species though that are popular amongst all Ghanaians, these include the smoked fish common in most markets called the 'gearbox'or Chrysichthys and nigrodigitatus. The 'gearbox' variety is strangely though not well researched for farming. This may be because the Original African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) has been adopted worldwide for fish farming. Presently, China farms more African Catfish than all of Africa can produce, funny uh?

My purpose is to show the commercial viability of catfish culture, the risks and reasons why tilapia seems to have more preference amongst fish farmers.

Catfish unlike tilapia are cannibalistic. That is to say they eat other fishes or anything small enough to enter their mouths. Now this happens mostly when the fish are not well fed. If you stocked 1000 tilapia fingerlings and did not feed them properly you may lose up to hundred fingerlings due to natural factors. On the other hand if you did same with catfish fingerlings the more aggressive ones would have some of their siblings for lunch and as they get bigger they have a bigger appetite to eat even more smaller ones. The result is that out of 1000 catfish fingerlings stocked you may be lucky to count up to 200 if you neglected them for even three weeks. If well fed though from the beginning they tend not to eat each other after they gain a certain weight.

Now it must be obvious to you why so many people prefer the more predictable tilapia to farm in Ghana. Our brothers in Nigeria and the ones in Ghana however prefer the catfish because it grows evidently faster and has a great market even when smoked. What’s more the price stays stable all year round and at best goes up once in a while when demand is too high. They are successful in this venture because they know what profits lie ahead and thus invest heavily in startup feed for the young fish up to a stage where they won't cannibalize each other and then they resort to cheaper local homemade feed or agricultural wastes.

Now to the figures, Catfish sells at ₦800 (GHC10.80) per kilogram in Nigeria; a typical fish fed for five to six months may weigh between 1 to 3 kilograms or an average of 2 kilograms. In Ghana, the price is GHC 12 per kilogram in Accra. The price is highly unstable and inclined to rise because the number of catfish farmers and their production is very small.

So imagine you took the risk and successfully produced 10,000 catfish each weighing 1 kilogram culminating in 10 tons. How and where would you sell them? Because the market isn't as well developed as tilapia, market women may try to cheap the farmer who wants to quickly sell off his or her fish and make back some profit. It won't also be practical to decide to sell off your fish in bits at a time because each day of delay increases the risk of losses to poachers and natural causes. This is where the exporter comes in! Currently the few exporters on my directory buy a kilogram of live catfish for GHC 8.5. This may be too low compared to the market value of a kilogram, but the exporter offers the opportunity to sell your fish stock at one go and receive payment instantly irrespective of how many thousands of tons you may have produced.

BUDGET
10,000 catfish fingerlings @63Ghp each = GHC 6,300
Feed 350 bags @GHC90 each GHC 31,500
Labour @ GHC200 month/6months GHC 1200
TOTAL GHC36,600  This price is for Coppens feed.

SALES = 10,000 kilograms X GHC 8.2 = GHC 82.000
PROFITS = SALES - INVESTMENT = GHC 45,400 Profit for using Coppens

10,000 catfish fingerlings @63Ghp each = GHC 6,300
Feed 400 bags @GHC65 each GHC 26,000
Labour @ GHC200 month/6months GHC 1200
TOTAL GHC33,500 This price is for Raana feed.

SALES = 10,000 kilograms X GHC 8.2 = GHC 82.000
PROFITS = SALES - INVESTMENT = GHC 48,500 Profit for using Raana

I USED AN AVERAGE OF 1 KILOGRAM PER FISH FOR WORST CASE SCENARIOS, IT IS MORE REGULAR THOUGH TO GET A WEIGHT OF 1.5KG - 2 KG WITH A BUDGET SUCH AS THE ONE ABOVE. YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY THAN WHAT YOU SAW WRITTING ABOVE.

Note that, you could cut down on the budget by investing in for instance 200 bags of feed till the fish attain a size which makes it unlikely for them to eat each other and then you feed them with leftover agricultural waste or maggot / animals manues. I have quoted 400 bags though for those who are well capitalized. In any case you won't be spending the whole amount at a go on feed as it would be accumulated over the six month period.

NOTE HOWEVER THAT FROM MY OWN EXPERIMENT IT WOULD COST YOU USD 3.4 OR GHS 4.9 PRESENTLY (JULY 2018)TO GROW ONE CATFISH ON ONLY EXTRUDED FEED TO A KILOGRAM IF IT'S A GOOD BREED.

I have left out the cost of constructing the ponds or buying canvas tanks because I realize the charges vary by location and nature of soil. An excavator though would do a better and faster job. The Mobile pond will take you up to 5 years and above, which means you are going up to 8 to 10 farming season for the cost of that.

Like I always say, fish farming is second only to narcotic drugs in terms of profits because very little effort is needed but great risk is undertaken in both. Getting a consultant to walk you through the steps eliminates much of the risk. After learning from the consultant in your first trail you are pretty much well positioned to go independent because trust me there is nothing complex to it!

I have uploaded some of the pictures of our successful catfish farming, as we have grown More than 70,000 Kilograms since 2013 until date. I will also add pictures of how our fingerlings look like in size for you to know what you are ordering from us.

Contact us immediately for your orders
call or Whatsapp  0249469469
email: mcagricfishltd@gmail.com