Perception of Fish Farmers on Application of Aquaculture Practices and Constraints in Niger State, Nigeria

Sufficient studies have not been conducted to understand the peculiarities of aquaculture practices in terms of social, economic, cultural religious environmental and institutional characteristics of the farmers in relation to their responses to the aquaculture practices. The study examined the perception of the fish farmers on application of aquaculture practices in Niger State, Nigeria. A sample size of 231fish farmers were selected in the state using multi-stage sampling method. Structured questionnaire complimented with interview scheduled used for data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics such as (frequency, percentages and mean). The findings reveal that 78.8% and 78.4% of the respondents highly applied medication to treat stress, control pest and disease and sorting density to separate jumpers respectively. Also, 80.1% of fish farmers agreed that use of aquaculture practices can greatly improve farmers’, 74.4% agreed that improved practices provide higher yield/income than the old ones, and 66.2% strongly agreed that training is required to correctly apply the improved practices. Furthermore, 40.7% of the respondents agreed that environmental pollution is a serious constraint to aquaculture practices while 42.2% of the respondents strongly agreed that unfavourable weather conditions for fish was very serious constraints to improve aquaculture practices in the study area. It is recommended that fishermen should put in place every measure to avoid using hazardous chemicals and extension officers and research institutes should ensure that fish farmers adequately access improve fingerlings that will enhance their productivity.