Organic catfish protein

In Nigeria today, the human population is over 200 million people. The growing population are in need of clean, healthy and affordable sources of animal proteins obtained from fish. According to the federal ministry of agriculture, a total of 3.2 million metric tonnes of fish are being demanded annually, but only 1.1 million metric tonnes can be supplied by all available local sources, leaving a huge deficit of 2.1 million metric tonnes. 

My name is Samsideen Kasali, and I am the founder of Abisam farms and technical services located in Benin city, Edo state, Nigeria. We are into mass production of organic catfish for human consumption. We make use of fruits, vegetables, herbal plants, food crops and others to grow our organic catfish using various technological machines and equipments.

Our ultimate goals are to work towards zero hunger, creation of jobs, development of rural agriculture and community development.

Towards the production of low carbon, resilient and nutritious animal proteins, elimination of the use of chemical antibiotics  in animal proteins production is of great importance. The inherent chemical antibiotics present in the animal proteins could be of great health risk in humans consuming such animal proteins.

According to Professor Dame Sally Davies, British medical doctor and administrator, antimicrobial resistance could soon kill at least 10 million people per year and  'could wipe out humanity before climate change does'. Time is running out. The time to start acting is now.

Fruits, vegetables, herbal plants, food crops and others are compounded at the right proportion making use of various feed milling machines and equipments into organic feeds. These feeds are fed to the catfish in order to grow them to various table sizes for human consumption. These feeds will strengthen the immunity of the catfish towards disease organisms thereby eliminating the use of chemical antibiotics towards production of sustainable organic catfish protein for human consumption.

Various technological machines in use in the production of the organic feeds are hammer mill, mixer, extruder, feed pelletizer, dryers and others.

The solution provides the following:

a. Production Of low carbon, healthy and nutritious organic catfish proteins to people in Edo state, Nigeria with a view to increasing our production sustainably in order to increase our geographic spread.

b. Creation of direct and indirect jobs.

c. Engagement of diverse suppliers of raw materials and  smallholder farmers in the production of our raw materials ( vegetables, fruits, herbal plants, food crops and others) being used for production of organic feeds.

d. Provision of organic waste to smallholder farmers for the nourishment of soil for bumper harvest and clean water to host community.

The world population is increasing annually, this increase requires sustainable food systems to supply healthy, clean and affordable animal protein to the people for their daily healthy animal proteins requirements. Catfish protein is one of the highly valued and nutritious animal proteins by human being to take care of this need most especially when produced organically. Hence, our involvement in the mass production of high quality organic catfish protein for human consumption for low, medium and high income earners in Nigeria growing population and beyond.

The innovative approach being deployed is basically the replacement of the use of chemical antibiotics with organic products from plants. Also, emphasis is placed on readily available materials input in our locality which are combined at the right proportion without compromising the output quality. Hence, the sustainability and scaling up of our products.

Our solution being a new business model and process relies on technology. Such technology include agricultural materials processing machines like hammer mill, mixer, destoner, pelletizer, dryer, refrigeration equipments and others. All these are equipped with high level sensory materials for optimum performance.

One of the demo video for the specially fabricated feed pelletizer by our team is given below.

https://youtu.be/_fHRiLIp8cA

The impacts associated with our innovation are given below.

1. Provision of healthy, clean and affordable catfish protein to low, medium and high income earners free from chemical antibiotics.

2. Creation of direct and indirect jobs.

3. Development of rural agriculture most especially smallholder famers predominantly being practiced by women.

4. Provision of solid organic waste that is environmental friendly being used to nourish the soil, most especially smallholder famers, and it gives them bumper harvest.

5. Community development.

Presently, our solution is serving over 100 people directly.

In a year time, the number should be over 200 people directly.

In five years, the number is expected to be over two thousand people directly.

Our short term and long term goals are :

1. Sustainable increase in our production output.

2. Sustainable increase in our human and materials resources.

3. Sustainable increase in our financial resources.

4. Sustainable increase in our geographic spread.

All these will be achieved through tailored training and funding, high level branding or value proposition, discipline in our execution activities, and smooth running of our operations.

The existing barriers limiting our expansion are insufficient funding, inadequate technological machines and equipments , marketing and sales.

To overcome these barriers, the following are carried out.

1. Seeking for grants, investment opportunities, re-investment of sales profit backed up by high level financial discipline.

2. Procurement of high quality and output machines and equipments with the required requisite skills.

3. The use of air, print and social media as well as development of our website for effective marketing, and a well planned geographic spread to enhance our sales towards serving millions of people in Nigeria and beyond.

Three full time staff

Five part time staff

Having acquired a university degree in agricultural engineering and two decades of practical experiences in high profile agricultural farms in Nigeria, backed by relevant skills such as farm management, animal production, farm power, farm structures, machines design, fabrication, and installation. Myself and the rest of the team are well positioned to take the innovation from the present traction to the desired destination.

In 2019, our organization was among 50 organizations that won the pitch Nigeria contest powered by SMETOOLKIT CHALLENGE. 

Our business model are catfish breeding, organic catfish grow out, organic catfish feed milling, and organic catfish processing. All these are geared toward provision of affordable, healthy and high quality organic table sizes catfish sold live, frozen, and dried. Also provision of high quality organic catfish feeds to smallholder famers is also an integral part of the innovation.

We are applying to solve in order to get access to relevant training, mentorship, partnership and funding to take our innovation to the desired destination.

For business to be successful, training and funding are essentials. Also, value proposition, high level discipline in execution activities and smooth running of operations are key. All these are our priorities. Hence, our application to MIT solve for the programme.

In Nigeria, we want to partner with Tony Elumelu foundation through their training, mentorship and funding programmes.

Also, outside Nigeria, organizations like MIT solve and the likes will be considered.

Our innovation primarily supports women. Over 70% of our products are purchased by women who use them as their source of livelihood and creation of indirect jobs.

Also, 80% of our agricultural materials input are produced by smallholder famers out of which over 60% are women.

The innovation for women prize will be used to sustainably increase our production, geographic spread, human and materials resources. This will greatly lead to greater number of women being financially empowered.

The core back bone of our innovation is technology. Various technological machines and equipments are deployed across all our value chains. Also, the use of technology ensures the replication of our innovation, leading to mass production of our innovative products along all our value chains.

The AI for humanity prize will be used to deploy more high technological machines and equipments there by boosting the production of more innovative products.