Catfish exporters in Nigeria have lamented the ban on Nigeria’s processed catfish by the United State government, saying the decision has affected them negatively.
The American government banned the export of smoked Fish from Nigeria into the U.S. in March 2018.
One of the reasons for the ban was failure on the part of Nigeria to provide sufficient documentation within the required time frame, concerned parties say.
The president of the Catfish and Allied Fish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFFAN), Oloye Rotimi, said the impact of this ban on the industry is enormous.
He, therefore, appealed to the Nigerian government to intervene in helping to lift the ban because it has become injurious to the processed fish industry.
“It is our prayer that you will use your good offices to look into this issue and get the ban lifted; otherwise, the farmers and processors will be out of jobs. Apart from this, the earnings derivable from this source will not be forthcoming,” he said.
He explained that the Nigerian fish farmers are now in a serious predicament at the moment because the U.S. is a major market for them.
The ban
The president of the African Women Fish Processors and Traders Network, Oluwafunmilola Shelika, gave some insights on how the ban came to be.
“Firstly, there has been a communication gap between the US government and the Nigerian government, whereby they raised some issues concerning the way our processing was done before the fish is exported to the U.S. And one of the issues was residue which affects the quality of the fish because a whole lot of settlement either from the hanging or where the fish was being bred could affect them.
