My time, effort driven by hunger for expansion – Fish farmer

Following an on-farm training as a LIFE-ND “incubate” in 2021, Stellamaris Olorume began her fish farm business with the same level of care a mother gives to her children. 

“My vision is to expand,” she told Daily Truston Sunday in Ute-Temboga community.

The fish farmer, driven by a desire to learn, focused on all aspects of fish production but paid particular attention to the hatchery, which she describes thus: “In the process of learning fish production, we were taught the section of hatchery, and that really gave me an interesting aspect, whereby for everything you do, there are certain due processes you must follow.  I felt as if I were a doctor working in a hospital. Not only that, I also feel like a mother giving birth to a child. Hatching young fishes gave me an inner passion to say that I must succeed in it. Since then, I have carried out the passion and it worked for me,” she said.

She currently owns Stellamaris Farms Ltd at the Uteh Fish Cluster in Edo State. She spends majority of her time on the farm and looks after a medium-sized hatchery that supplies fingerlings and juvenile fish to a number of farmers in the area.

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Olorume said she was not only in production but trains other young farmers, adding, “A corps member is serving with me. I also have other young women who have interest in learning from me. In fact, they are encouraging me to expand.”

She emphasised, “When you are not doing anything you are not contributing to the society, but when you are productive you belong to a society of the working class that gives birth to a developing economy. I have children and youths around me, and whatever I impact in them is like giving birth. In that process I give a new name, identity and life.” 

Explaining how she was able to grow to this stage, she said that as a result of the awareness, skills and drive she had, she was able to secure a loan from the First City Monument Bank (FCMB), adding, I have been able to pay back. I took N500,000, which had a low interest rate of 2.5 per cent. I was able to pay back in installments. With that, I have been able to expand the business, which has yielded good results for me. I am delighted.”

On how she is grappling with the high cost of feed, which has forced many farmers out of business, Olorume said she had to find ways of cutting down cost, but it has not been easy.

“The cost of feed has really increased, such that a lot of people are going out of business, but I can say that anyone who wants to grow in business must derive his own personal method to stay.

“I am now researching on a feed I can produce that would cut down my cost of production for the big ones (not the small or juvenile ones), after using two months of foreign species, so that I can take the fish business forward,” she said.

Farmers in the cluster where she is located also developed a strategy (taking the advantage of the social media) for selling their fishes; and the strategy is well understood by buyers. 

She said, “Here, we already have a market because the cluster is on rotation, so each market woman from the entrance will ask for a seller. They will get information from transporters on our WhatsApp group.  This way, they will know the cluster that is selling and just go there. Customers troop in early in the morning to purchase. So, the market is not a challenge at all.”