Battle for food: Ending competition between man and beast
It is a verifiable fact that many farmers, though not deliberately, make human beings compete with animals for food by feeding their livestock and fish with some staples. Such foods include maize, groundnuts, soya beans and fish, which are used as feed ingredients by commercial feed millers or by farms that formulate their own feeds.
This situation is a factor contributing to the skyrocketing prices of such foodstuffs in Nigeria. A 100kg bag of maize, which was sold in the local markets for about N7,200 ($45) September last year, rose to N9,000 ($56.25) September this year. Also, a 100kg bag of groundnut rose from N16,800 ($105) to N19,833 ($124) same time this year.
Prices of soya beans are even more erratic, increasing astronomically or decreasing at different periods of the year, depending on demand. The price of fish, especially farmed fish, increases by 20 percent every year due to hikes in prices of these staples and fish used in making fishmeal.
The farmers in question are however quick to point out that since the livestock and fish are being reared for humans to consume, then it is justifiable to feed the animals with good food. That is true, but there are now scientifically proven, nutritionally safe and cheaper solutions to ending the competition for food between humans and beasts. These entail feeding these livestock and fish with some wastes or their by-products.
This is a necessity since about 70 percent of Nigerians are living on just $1 (N160) a day, according to a United Nations 2010 report. Also, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports also show that per capita consumption of some foods in Nigeria is far below global average.
For instance, per capita consumption of milk, a livestock product in sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria, was just 29.1 in 1999, and is projected to increase to 33.8 in 2030. This is very small compared with nations such as USA and the United Kingdom, where per capital consumption of milk products was 212.2 in 1999, and is expected to rise to 221.0 in 2030.
Apart from increasing population, there is a great demand pull on these staples – maize, soya beans, groundnuts and fish – by the livestock and fish farming industries. The farmers’ businesses are in turn affected by the high prices of these staples they buy for their animals as feed ingredients or as finished feeds from the feed millers.
For most livestock and fish farmers, feeding alone constitutes about 80 percent of the cost of production. This excludes labour and other overhead costs. Therefore, the farmers earn very little profit, many get discouraged and the livestock and fish products they sell are in turn very expensive.
But wastes or by-products of wastes such as maggots, earthworms, fish intestines, insects, Jatropha cakes, Ackee apple – botanically called Bilingha sapida, zooplanktons and phytoplanktons, cassava peels, palm kernel residues, cassava leaves and oil palm leaves are already being used by some farmers to substitute these staples and bring down cost of livestock/fish production. There has been no report of anybody dying or falling sick from eating the livestock and fish produced in the last one to seven years or more that their usage began.
If available in sufficient quantities, they could reduce farmers’ production cost even further. More livestock and fish farmers can then stay in business, earn decent profit and ensure increased availability of fish, meat, milk and eggs. Also, very importantly, the utilisation of these wastes in larger quantities would reduce the quantities disposed, therefore bringing about a cleaner environment.
Majority of the farmers who currently use the wastes and/or by-products in feeding livestock and fish are either scientists or have scientists providing consultancy on the utilisation.
Maggots
Razak Olawale Tijani is a medical practitioner of 33 years experience running a medical centre in Igbo Ora, Oyo state. He also has a farming business at the back of his clinic. He has been into fish farming for nine years.
He says, “At a seminar, we were told that if one could use substitutes like maggots it would cut down our cost of production. So, we started to develop a maggotry out of our poultry farm. Before then, the maggots were wastes which we had to dispose. But now we use them to feed our fish, and the fish love the maggots so much.”
He adds confidently, “I must tell people that feeding fish with maggots does not make the fish unwholesome, it is a good source of protein. We are just converting maggot protein to fish protein and it is not injurious to health. I have been able to confirm that.”
On the future plan he says, “Our plan is to produce maggots in commercial quantities; we use what we need and sell to other farms. We would also be getting poultry wastes from other farms for the maggot production.”
He further says, “Maggots float like the floating fish feed. They are also very clean and do not pollute the water as other feed forms.”
Abdulsalaam Adebayo, the doctor’s farm manager says, “We produce maggots to replace fishmeal in feeding fish. The fish meal is imported and it costs us about 70 percent of total cost of production of fish feed, so we try to reduce the cost using wastes to wealth. The fish has been responding positively as the maggots make them grow very fast.”
Dried maggots
At the Songhai Farm Centre in Port Novo, Benin Republic, a globally recognised research and training farm, the maggots are produced in dry forms. The centre uses leftover grasses from its grass-cutter section, dried poultry droppings, piggery wastes, discarded parts of poultry such as the heads, feet, intestines, and so on.
Franklin Agah, the supervisor at the aquaculture section of Songhai Centre says, “When we get all these wastes, we add a little water and mix everything. Flies would be attracted and lay their eggs and in three to four days maggots would emerge.”
Agah says, “The fish which eat the maggots grow very fast. At six months they would be up to 1.5kg to 2kg. The fish can even be sold before then, from 500kg. Songhai centre has been using maggots in the feeding of fish since it was established in 1985.”
Milled maggots
Kehinde Ogunyinka, the Lagos state coordinator, Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) also attests to the effectiveness of using maggots to replace fishmeal in fish feeds. He says, “We carried out an experiment in 2006 on maggot inclusion in fish feed to replace fishmeal.
“The analysis showed that wet maggot had 18 percent crude protein and dried maggot has 56 percent crude protein. Therefore we recommended that farmers use dried maggots as a replacement for fish meal. Since then those farms where we had the experiment are still using the maggots in their fish feed and they have not come to us to tell us any bad news.”
To extend the shelf life of dried maggots, he says, “The maggots can be spread in the sun or oven dried at a temperature that will not denature them. By grinding them into powder they can last for six months. They can replace fish meal completely in fish feed.”
Also in 2006, Ibigbenyi Apiambo, president, Divine Covenant Buguma Farmers in Port Harcourt consulted the African Regional Acqualture Centre in Buguma under the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research.
He says, “The centre was headed at that time by Ebinimi J. Ansa, an aquaculture specialist. She advised me on how to produce worms and maggots and since then they have been an effective feed for my fish.”
He adds, “For broodstock (fish used for breeding), we feed them worms in the morning and in the evening we feed them the conventional feeds. In a period of about four months, one will discover that costs have been cut down by 40 percent. Fingerlings are fed four times a day, every six hours. I feed them with maggots twice a day and conventional feeds twice daily.”
Apiambo produces the maggots and earthworms in his home compound with a basin using chicken droppings and very ripe mango or chicken/fish intestines as baits to attract flies. The flies lay eggs and in just three days the maggots begin to emerge. He harvests the maggots every day to feed his fish.”
He says, “Eating catfish has been helping me in retentive memory. (He is also a student of engineering). Maggots are not harmful, I have been eating my fish since I started production in 2006.”
Earthworms
To get the earthworms, he says, “The worms can be got in places where there are livestock droppings. One can also get cow blood and pour in a hole or container and cover, and the worms can be made to reproduce.”
Ebinimi J. Ansa, the aquaculture researcher, a fellow of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) has introduced many farmers to these innovative unconventional fish feeds.
Insects
She says, “We carry out research to find out what the fish eat in their natural environment, and replicate this in the farmers’ ponds. The most common unconventional feeds are insects, maggots and earthworms. Those feeds which we call unconventional are actually the natural food of fish.”
From various research works carried out by aquaculture specialists, it is clear that fish captured in the waters or the frozen fish imported into Nigeria feed on similar things when living in their natural environment.
Intestines
Helen Eze, owner of Harmony Catfish Farm, uses the intestines from the fish she rears as supplements in the feeding of the fish. She says, “The intestines from catfish is good in the feeding of catfish but the intestines of frozen fish such as Chinos is not good. They contain bones and when one tries to remove the bones, they scatter. They also ferment and introduce bacteria to the water. But catfish intestines do not ferment. I just boil them a little so as not to give the fish the taste of blood which can lead to cannibalism.”
She says, “Since the intestines are from them, the fish eating them easily acclimatise to this unconventional feed and they grow very big in record time. My customers are always glad to give me the intestines because their disposal would have been a challenge for them. By recycling the fish intestines, I am helping in reducing the pollution in the environment.”
Planktons
Franklin Agah, the aquaculture supervisor at the Port Novo Songhai Centre also points out the use of zooplankton and phytoplankton that are raised by fertilising the water with the droppings of livestock such as poultry, pigs, ruminants and so on.
He says the zooplanktons are very rich in protein and they are used in feeding of fries (baby fish). The phytoplankton are mainly used in feeding fingerlings.
Carnivores/herbivores
Emmanuel David Chiabutu, a student in the fisheries section of Songhai affirm that research has shown that very many food wastes can also be used in feeding fish. “These include use of kitchen wastes for herbivorous fish and insects for carnivorous fish.”
Jatropha/Ackee Apple
Another very unconventional feed form is Jatropha seeds and Ackee apple seeds. Researchers have been able to remove the poison in them through biotechnological means. Moshood Belewu, a professor at the department of animal production, faculty of agriculture, University of Ilorin, Nigeria has led researches in the detoxification of the seeds of these plants.
He says, “Cakes made from Jatropha seeds are very rich in protein and energy but contain toxins. But at the University of Ilorin we have been able to detoxify it through a biotechnological process. It can be used in feeding any livestock and fish.”
Commercialisation
He adds, “At the University of Ilorin, we are ready to give the training to farmers and other stakeholders. Secondly, the University is planning to go into the production and marketing of the cakes from these seeds on a large scale so that our local farmers can have them.”
Fisayo Ogunsola, a PhD student of the professor says the protein content of fungi treated Jatropha seed cakes is higher than that of soya beans and groundnuts. “The Jatropha seed itself has about 40 percent crude protein but the microbes – fungi add more proteins,” he explains.
Another student of the professor, Adebayo Kehinde, a masters student at the university currently uses the fungi treated Ackee Apple seed cakes in feeding chickens. Her supervisor, Belewu says, “We have also used the Ackee Apple seeds in feeding ruminants.”
Temitope Olajiga, an agronomist, chief executive officer/chairman of Biotop Green Oils and Energy Limited buys Jatropha from farmers to produce biofuel. Thankfully, it is the residue that is left after the oil has been expressed from the Jatropha seed for biodiesel that is used in production of the animal feed called Jatropha cake.
“Biotop is partnering with the University of Ilorin, to commercialise the production of Jatropha cakes. The university has the technology to detoxify the seeds after expression of oil for biodiesel and we have the capacity to commercialise it,” Olajiga says.
Cassava peels
Dried cassava peels are also used in the feeding of livestock. Kolawole Adebayo, a lecturer at the department of agricultural extension, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) explains, “Cassava peels can be sun-dried on a black polythene sheet to speed up the rate of drying and spread on a raised cemented platform. That way the poisonous cyanide contained in wet cassava peels is removed.”
Adebayo’s student, Bolanle Ogunlolu, a PhD student of FUNAAB and a 2010 fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) says, “We discover that feeding dried cassava peels to ruminants helps in improving their digestibility and therefore productivity.
Kuburat Toriola, a cassava processor in Ikango Village, Abeokuta is one of the trainees of Adebayo. Toriola says, “Farmers now use cassava peels in feeding pigs, ruminants and poultry.” The dried cassava peels are however milled before they are added as energy source in poultry feed to replace maize.”
Palm kernel
Adebayo also points out that many of his colleagues are also involved in research works in the utilisation palm kernel wastes. “When the kernel fruit is cracked, the oil in the seed is expressed and used in soap making industries. The leftover residue is a waste and quite a number of livestock feed industry now buy these and use as alternative energy source in livestock feed,” he explains.
Cassava/oil palm leaves
Afioluwa Mogaji of X-Ray Farm Consulting points out that cassava leaves and oil palm leaves are also effective feed ingredients especially for ruminants.
Policy
Since the utilisation of all these wastes- fish intestines, cassava peels, residues of Jatropha seeds, Ackee Apple seeds and palm kernels and livestock droppings which generate maggots, earthworms, zooplankton and phytoplankton, help in reducing the problems of wastes disposal in the environment, Mogaji urged policy makers to make policies mandating farms to reduce waste disposals by exploring the options of utilising them.
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This research carried out by Oluyinka Alawode is with the support of the African Story Challenge, a project targeted at encouraging research-based multimedia storytelling by African journalists. The documentary is also available on audio-visual and audio CDs with links on social media sites. For more enquiries, contact ag@s19080.p615.sites.pressdns.com/en, +2348037240471
By: OLUYINKA ALAWODE