FISHING PEASANTS AND THE DILEMMA OF FOOD SECURITY IN BAYELSA STATE EXAMINING STATE POLICY ON PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Bayelsa State is located in the heart of Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Over 30 percent of the population in the state is engaged in fishing and artisanal farming for subsistence. The peasant fishers who make a living by fishing in the territorial waters, lakes and creeks and ponds suffer huge setbacks to their occupation as a result of lack of modern preservation technology and equipment to aid their value-chain needs. Existing scholarly works have paid a great deal of attention on food security, processing and preservation in relation to large scale or industrial farmers. However, little attention has been paid to the problems confronting small scale fish farmers who contribute largely to food security. The lack of state policy to drive the process of providing such incentives to the farmers has culminated in food shortages in the country, hence massive importation of food items. This paper adopted a qualitative approach to investigate the challenges confronting fishing peasants in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, and found amongst others that fish makes up 40% of dietary protein consumption in the country, and about 90% of fish produced in Nigeria is sold in the local market as a cheap source of protein to the growing population. The paper also found that fishing peasants lose considerable income to the lack of preservation and storage technology.