There are lots of ways to make extra income from investment in agricultural business. One of the agricbussiness ventures which can become a big revenue earner is export of crayfish to other countries.
Crayfish is very common in reverine areas like Epe, Badagry areas of Lagos State, likewise, it is available in Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, some parts of Edo, Delta and Kogi States.
It is called ‘ede’ in Yoruba and among Edo people, it called ‘izenoubhua’. It is in high demand, especially, outside the shores of Nigeria by other nationals and mostly by Nigerians in Diasphora.
Because of the nutritional value, which make most people to see it as first choice in cooking, crayfish investment will continue to increase.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP, Mrs Iyabode Alalade who is into exporting business explained that crayfish are a highly sought-after seafood commodity and the export of this product has witnessed a significant increase in recent years.
Nigeria is well-known for its abundant crayfish resources, making it a key exporter of this product to many countries around the world.
According to her, special care is, however, needed to preserve crayfish to avoid spoiling and from foul odus which can come out from crayfish that is not properlly dried. A person may embark on exportation of raw crayfish or smoked crayfish.
“Would-be investor into crayfish export should be able to study where he or she can get large quantity of crayfish. One beautiful thing of this is that he/she buy crayfish from the domestic market on wholesale basis with local currency (Naira) and resells in dollars in the international market,” she said.
In the same vein, Mr Akin Alamo who is into export business, said:”crayfish needs special handling to make it exportable.
“There is need for good drier to dry the crayfish before exporting. There is need to have good packaging of the product to make it attractive to buyers.”
Besides, he said, “there is need to apply to National Agency for Food, Drug Administration & Control(NAFDAC) for certification of crayfish for export and Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for one to get clearance for export of crayfish into USA where there are many Nigerians in need of this product.
“As NAFDAC and FDA’s export certification provides the official attestation concerning a product’s regulatory or marketing status, based on available information at the time.
“Investor going into crayfish export will need NAFDAC and FDA to get certificate (including, as appropriate, attestations provided by the person seeking the certificate). The fact that NAFDAC or FDA issued an export certificate does not preclude FDA from taking appropriate regulatory action against a product covered by the certificate.”
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