SURVEY OF FISH FEED TYPES AND CULTURE FACILITIES

ABSTRACT

Improved aquaculture production enhanced by support from government and NGOs can be very effective and sustainable when proper statistics of the aquaculture industry are available. One of the statistical tool of interest in this regard is the quality of fish feed types and the quantity of fish rearing facilities at the disposal of fish farmers in the state. This study assessed the various fish feed types and fish rearing facilities in Egor, Ikpoba okha, Oredo and Ovia North East Local Government Areas of Edo State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 150 fish farmers for the study of which a hundred and fifty well-structured questionnaires were administered. Data obtained were carefully analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Results were presented using descriptive statistic such as percentages and bar charts. Results of the study showed that 77.3% of the fish farmers were male with 22.7% females; 70 % of the respondents had tertiary education. Majority of the farmers had 1-5years of farming experience. 83% of the respondents used commercial feed to cultured their fishes while  11% used locally made feed, 6% used both commercially made feed and locally made feed. This implies that most respondents prefer to use commercially made feed compare to other type of feed in the study area.

 Results from this study indicates that 52% of the fish farmers in the study area uses concrete tanks to culture fish, followed by plastic tanks (11%), tarpaulin were used by 6%, 4.6%  used earthen, while 5% used fiberglass tanks. 5.4% uses both concrete and plastic, 6% uses both concrete and tarpaulin.