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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Fish is an important food item consumed by many people across the world. It is rich in essential minerals and vitamins, and as such rated a very fundamental food item.
Beyond serving as food, it serves various industrial and other economic purposes. In addition to that, it serves medicinal and academic purposes too for researchers, among others.
To improve fish productivity in the world, especially in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, Fish4ACP was launched on October 23, 2019 in Oslo, at the Our Ocean conference.
It’s a five-year programme worth €40 million which was signed by the EU and ACP countries and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. Again, there is also a Nigeria-born scientific solution that is already helping to change the narratives on how fish production is being carried out. It is called Taenprowiz. This scientific solution may just be what the promoters of Fish4ACP need, in addition to what they may already have, to boost fish production in the 79 ACP countries and beyond.
Taenprowiz, according to its inventor, Mr Emeka Iloghalu, is an operating system with several modules which provides super solutions for fish production business. He described it as a suite of distinct software that performs various functions in the fish production business.
The inventor, currently the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State Fisheries and Aquaculture Business Development Agency (FABDA), further described the invention as a “scientific” innovation in fish production.
“Taenprowiz is scientific as a matter of fact. Scientific in the sense that there is a deliberate definition of the problem and then there is also a deliberate approach to creating a solution to the problem. “And in solving the main problem, several problems emerged and they were defined and then these problems were also solved. So, in solving the main problem, several smaller problems have been taken care of. So, it is a high end solution”, he said.
Iloghalu said that the indigenous invention, invented in Anambra State, was patented in 2016 and that it was basically to improve commercial fish production in Africa and the world at large.
“The strength of Taenprowiz is in mass production even though it deals with minute details but it begins to make sense when you have multiple ponds; a large number of ponds to deal with simultaneously and at the same time.
“For example, the recent model of the cluster system that we’ve developed; we call it the fish production village business franchise; the model that is sitting on three hectares of land is designed to have a minimum of 600 ponds.
“And these 600 ponds operate in such a way that, following the Taenprowiz system, you will have to have your input specification for the fingerling or the input fish you are going to put in for your production. “Then, you also have to have a target output weight. And with this, you will be able to determine the number of ponds that will be required for each production line.
“Now, doing this, it is basically more or less a repetitive activity. And if human beings are doing this manually without a tool or a system like Taenprowiz and people are just using their judgment to engage 600 ponds for production of fish, several people will be required.
“Number two, people are also going to get wearied. Number three is that it is going to affect the effectiveness and efficiency of production and the consequence, ultimately, is loss of profit; even loss of the capital.
“So, the money will fritter away and even the capital will disappear. But with Taenprowiz, the operations are standardised. There are several standard operating procedures for little, little operations; such little operations as feeding the fish, there is a standard operating procedure.
“Operation like stocking the fish, bringing in new fish to stock for production, there is a standard operating procedure for that.
“Grading of the fish; sorting and putting them according to their grades in different ponds so that they will grow uniformly, again, also has its standard operating procedure guided and powered by the Taenprowiz system.
“Then, even in harvesting, there is a standard operating procedure, in taking the water parameters, there is standard operating procedure. So, all these standard operating procedures are repetitive.
“They keep the operations predictable and stable. They provide the management ease of supervision and management and also make the ease of decision taking to be seamless and simple enough; and with higher precision and efficiency.
“So, there is so much that the Taenprowiz system has brought to bear. And because of this, you can scale your fish production. You can scale your table fish production, scale fingerlings production, scale the brood stock development, and scale the nursing of the fingerlings as well to whatever target and whatever objectives and whatever stage you want to take it to.
“So, this is the strength that the Taenprowiz has brought into the fish production system and that translates to effective and efficient commercialisation of fish production which we have not yet attained but Taenprowiz has come and Taenprowiz is taking us to that destination.
“And then we should be and we will be, by God’s grace, able to massively produce fish; produce enough for our self-sufficiency, produce surplus for industry and export, and then continue to grow and begin to be stable leaders in the fish business, both in Africa and in the world,” Iloghalu explained.
The inventor said that Taenprowiz looks at things with respect to objective and precision production; insisting that the new invention would change the narratives of fish production in Africa if adopted by the stakeholders across the continent.
“Taenprowiz has provided professionalism in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. Before now, up till now actually, the professionals in fisheries and aquaculture and in agriculture and even the vets, they indulged more or less in things like drudgery.
“They are also limited in capacity to take care of several information involved in fish production. Now, Taenprowiz has again standardised and established a structure and system for fish production,” he narrated.
He spoke further: “Taenprowiz arrests every business loss. This is because you cannot overfeed the fish. Once the fish, for example, takes a quantity that is beyond the capacity and the number of fish in the pond, the excess is wasted.
It raises several red flags for you and that’s why I am talking about Taenprowiz helping to take active real time business decisions.” The FABDA boss said that Taenprowiz has introduced precision operations in fish production and that it has solutions to every business challenge in that industry.
“If you’re doing table fish production, Taenprowiz uses different modules associated with table fish production to solve the problems. If you are doing fingerlings production, Taenprowiz uses the different modules related and associated with fingerlings production to solve the problem. And then, if you are doing broodstock development, the same way.
There are components of Taenprowiz operating system that serve as tools to achieve the business objectives for each of these activities. Taenprowiz system ensures that you produce in a rhythmic way; you don’t produce in seasons. You don’t stop and go and harvest and start again. No. Taenprowiz gets you to, at least, be harvesting every month or every week or every day as the case may be”, he added.
Some fish producers in Anambra State who are currently making use of the Taenprowiz system spoke highly about it. The CEO of Street Farm and Aquaculture Management Enterprise, Isuaniocha in Awka North Local Government Area, Mr Donald Umejiaku, said that he uses Taenprowiz in his fish farm which has 20 ponds with over 15,000 fishes.
“One of the major things Taenprowiz will help you in is to make sure that there will be no financial strain to your pocket before you start making money. Taenprowiz will introduce you to monthly input and monthly output. It will make you not to commit so much money at once. It helps to reduce financial strain on the part of the entrepreneur.
“Again, it gives an opportunity for evaluation. For example, when we started newly, we were doing grading. But we discovered that it was usually not accurate. Sometimes you will see 500, 400, 300 kilograms.
“Fish grow in batches. If you have 1000kg and 700kg in one pond, the bigger one may swallow the smaller one. And that would be a loss for your business. But Taenprowiz helps you to do proper grading of the fish.
“What Taenprowiz has done for me is that it structured my business such that I always have fish. My customers know that I always have fish. It helps me to maintain the pace.
“Taenprowiz helps you to know the quantity of feed you have served the fish at every point in time.
So, at every point in time, you will always know the quantity you have served each pond within a specified period of time,” Umejiaku explained. The Chief Executive Officer of Chinyelu Agro Mechanised Farm, Aguleri in Anambra East LGA, Mr Primus Odili, described Taenprowiz as “a masterpiece in a business enterprise” which has helped to improve his fish productivity.
“Prior to Taenprowiz, we had tried so many things mechanically to keep track of records because everything about fish farming and everything about farming actually is record keeping.
“Taenprowiz has been able to bring to bear all the grey areas that one will have to worry about in fish farming and with the manner of record keeping that Taenprowiz guarantees, one doesn’t have to worry about those grey areas anymore.
“This is because with Taenprowiz, you know exactly the number of fish that you have; the quantity of feed that they need to eat every day; their weight; their sizes and all that”, Odili stated.
Head of the Fish Unit at the farm, Afoma Odili, said that Taenprowiz has helped the establishment stop stealing by dishonest members of staff.
“The company was running before we started making use of Taenprowiz and when the Taenprowiz system was introduced, we noticed a lot of changes,” Afoma stated.
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