Ogun fishing communities receive free climate-friendly smoking kilns from Solidaridad
By Ishaya Ibrahim
An international solution-oriented Civil Society Organisation, Solidaridad, has donated smoking kilns to three fishing communities in Ogun State.
Under the Aquaculture Development Project Nigeria (ADPN), the communities, including Ifo, in Ifo local government area, Ikangba Agoro in Odegboke local government area, and Ijebu Ife, in Ijebu East local government area, each received a 500kg capacity dual-purpose Smoking Kiln accompanied by two energy sources equipment – solar power panel and two 50kg filled gas cylinder.
It was a celebration galore in Ifo where the Solidaridad team made the first donation on July 16.
The Solidaridad team was treated with dancing and cheers from the local government’s happy farmers under the Coalition of All Practicing Farmers. The coalition has 35 fishing clusters and 525 fisher folks.
Kene Onukwube, program manager at Solidaridad Nigeria, said donating the equipment to the farmers was in line with the philosophy of Solidaridad that change is not only possible but indeed matters.
He said: “It is possible to change from the former ways by which you were able to smoke and process fish to what you have today. What you have today is not just a set of equipment, this is unique in itself. It allows you to have three sources of energy. You can process with gas, you can process with the solar panel. The third one we often really do not promote because of deforestation, which is the component for charcoal. But as much as possible, we are hopeful that the gas process and the solar panel process will be successful and that is what you will showcase to others,” he said.
Coordinator of the farmers, Mr Shittu Oladipupo who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said the donated equipment is a permanent solution to the challenges confronting them.
He said: “Today, Solidaridad has provided a permanent solution to these challenges confronting Fish Farmers in Ifo local government by supporting us with 500kg capacity tri purpose (solar, gas, and charcoal) stainless steel, 50kg filled gas, and cooling rack to boost our fish farming business in Ifo Local Government.”
Oladipupo said the equipment will increase their capacity to make more money. “With this intervention, it means more money in our bank account as we will not be held at tight corners to sell our fresh fish at a ridiculous price anymore, but can add value to it and sell at a reasonable price,” he said.
Chairwoman of Ifo local government, Hon. Kikelomo Delano thanked Solidaridad for choosing Ifo among the communities to receive the Smoking Kiln.
“I want to thank Solidaridad so much for giving us this opportunity. You could have taken this elsewhere, but as God has directed that you put it in Ifo, we are thanking you,” she said.
She also thanked the farmers for making the local government proud through their industry which attracted the Smoking Kiln from Solidaridad.
She said: “You made us proud. When the man from Solidaridad was talking, he said the place was peaceful. This is because we’ve lived in peace amongst ourselves.”
She said the money invested in making the equipment was huge, hence, the farmers should put it to good use.
Equi Nwabudike, ADPN program manager explained the reason for the donations across three local governments in Ogun.
She said: “The project is the Aquaculture Development Project Nigeria (ADPN) and is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Demark. The whole idea is to tackle some of the issues around environmental degradation as it comes to fish production and the effects that come out of it.
“The whole idea was to ensure that farmers are producing in balance with nature. Most of the things that the project is designed to tackle was things around farmer education and the transmission of knowledge down to the farmers.
“Another thing that we looked at was marketing linkage because we saw during the needs assessment that a lot of the farmers struggled and a lot of their challenges were around linking their products to the market. So, this project is meant to address that and another issue the project was to address was e-learning. We provided education for children and the farmers through e-platform.
“In terms of why we chose Ifo, originally, the project beneficiaries started from the Eriwe, which is somewhere in Ijebu Ode and then we realized that we needed to reach more farming households. So, we started to scout around. And when we came down to Ifo, we realized that it is truly a coalition of all practising farmers and we saw their hard work and dedication. We saw how much they wanted to add more value to their fish processes because it went beyond fish production. For them it is more of processing, adding value to their products and enhancing their livelihood.
“So, Ifo was a strong contender for this particular activity. We also realized during the needs assessment that there were issues around post-harvest loses and that is why we moved on to the process of fabricating the 500kg capacity oven. When we visited them what they had was about 100kg capacity and so what they have today is 500kg capacity,” she said.