Nigerian Smoked Fish Market Potential

7/25/2019 Nigerian Smoked Fish Market Potential

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Nigerian Smoked Fish Market Potential

I. Overview of Nigerian Fish Supply and Demand

Nigeria is rich in both fresh and marine fishery resources. There are an estimated 12,478,818

hectares of inland waters and some 741,509 hectares of brackish waters, most of which are

suitable for aquaculture. However, only about 5,476 hectares of these waters are employed for

fishery at present. In addition to the above, this nation has 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic

Zone (EEZ) that spans 853km of coastline and covers 192,000 kmareas. Fish supply of Nigeria is

from four major sources, and they are artisanal fisheries, industrial trawlers, aquaculture and

important frozen fish. The Niger Delta contributes more than 50% of the entire domestic

Nigerian fish supply. At the same time, there are many kinds of fish species of commercial

importance in Nigeria.

Fish is an important source of protein intake of many people, especially the people in developing

countries. In Nigeria, about 41% of the total animal protein intake is obtained from fish products.

And it is reported that fish is a major source of animal protein and an essential food item for

Nigerians, because it is relatively cheaper than meat. The total demand for fish and fish products

is higher in Nigeria than many other West African countries.

II. Smoking is A Prominent Fish Processing in Nigeria

Fish is a kind of perishable product, and if it is not sold or consumed fresh, proper preservation

methods and techniques have to be applied to extend its shelf life. And the preservation

methods includes freezing, drying (sun-drying and oven-drying), fermentation, heat treatment

(sterilization, pasteurization, etc.) and smoking.

Smoking is a popular traditional method of fish preservation in most developing countries, which


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combines the effect of the destruction of bacteria and the cooking of the fish, because high

temperatures will be generated. And the drying and cooking effects during smoking process

attributes to a long shelf life of smoked fish products.

Due to the scorching climate in Nigeria, it is usual for fish to be preserved under frozen condition,

but there is an irregular electricity power supply, so another form of preservation that has saved

fish farmers, fish merchants/sellers from losses is smoking. And it has been observed that the

most prominent fish preservation method in Nigeria is smoke drying; most of the captured fishes

are sold or consumed after smoking.

Smoking process of fish has a long history in Nigeria. With social development, smoking is not

only done as preservative which is the original purpose, but also done for the unique taste and

flavor imparted from the smoking process in recent times.

III. Economic Potential of Nigerian Smoked Fishes

---Abroad Nigerian smoked fish products

A study showed that, there are many Africans venturing abroad, and the United States and

Europe remain the major destination for them. This transcontinental migration brings about a

growing appreciation for African flavors and food, the demand for dried and smoked fishes has a

sharp increase.

The Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) of the United Nations has conducted a research

indicating that the quantity of dried and smoked catfish, tilapia and other types of fishes

exported from West Africa to the United Kingdom is estimated at over 500 tones per year, with a

retail value of nearly 20$ million. Nigeria alone exports about 5 tonnes of smoked fish per month,

via airfreight.


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---Domestic smoked fish products of Nigeria

It is known that fish is an important and main food materials of Nigerian. The continue growth of

population, income and urbanization assures the high demand for fishes in Nigeria. The

estimation of national demand for fishes in Nigeria is 2.3 million tones annually, out of which 1 in

every 500 of this demand represents the demand for smoked fishes.

At the same time, smoked fish demand is also high in Nigeria. With a population of over 165

million people and an estimated national population growth rate of 5.7% per year, an average

economic growth rate of 3.5% per year in the past 5 years, Nigeria has a large market for smoked

fish.

Combining the abroad and domestic demand of the smoked fish, it clearly shows the economic

potential of Nigerian smoked fishes, and the economic potential of investment is guaranteed as

well.

IV. Advantages of Smoking Fish

Fish smoking can realize three processing effects:

1. Cooking:smoking is usually done at a high temperature, so the fish is cooked.

2. Drying: the fire that produces smoke also generates heat that dries the fish;, and the heat

destroys bacteria resting in and on the fish.

3. Smoking: smoke produced by burning wood containing some compounds that also has the

effect of killing bacteria; the process has a preservative value.

Smoking prolongs shelf life of fishes, which permits storage in the lean season; enhances flavor

and increases utilization of fishes in other diets, such as soups and sauces. It enhances the

nutritive value and promotes digestibility of protein. It increases protein availability to peoplethroughout the years and makes fish easier to pack, transport and market for reaching the


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consumer in relatively good state.

V. Fish Smoking Way in Nigeria

Traditional way of smoking fish in Nigeria

The traditional way of smoking fish is done by leaving the fish to be processed naturally with

smoke generated by burning wood. And usually, smokehouses (smoking kiln) are built for the

purpose of smoking fish. However, it is not getting a lot of prominence through the traditional

way of smoking fish for export. And the traditional smoking method is gradually being replaced

with modern mechanical methods of preserving fish.

Due to the aquaculture production increase in Nigeria as well as the request for high-quality

products abroad, the need for developing modern fish preservation and processing machinery

and techniques for effective fish processing and storage is necessary.

The modern smoking method has the following advantages

1. More hygienic by producing the died fishes free from heavy smoke deposits.

2. Less batch processing time than the traditional drying method.

3. Removed labor and time involved in rotation of fish repeatedly, like the labor needed to

monitor the fishes during smoking to avoid charring.

4. Allows large scale smoking operation.


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Mechanical fish smoking kiln

After a lot of improvement, the mechanical smoking kiln is designed and fabricated as a kind

modern fish smoking machine. The use of force-draft enhances drying and smoke application

and the use of heater source remote to the smoke generator reduces much smoking time. The

mechanical smoking kiln can be relied upon to produce a high-quality, uniform product that

conforms to internationally acceptable standard.

VI. Smoked Fish Production Processing

1. Fish grading: sorting by species or on the basis of sizes is very important for fish processing as

well as for marketing, and fish grading by size can be easily completed with mechanical fish

grading equipment.

2. Fish scale removing:scaling the fish is necessary chore as the scales are unpleasant to eat, and

usually the fish scaling machineis applied in a industrial plants.

3. Fish cleaning: this process is to finish fish back dissecting, fish guts removing, membrane

cleaning byfish speed cleaning machine,etc. to reduce spoilage.

4. Slime removal: for some fish species, slime on the fish skin creates a perfect condition for

microorganism growth and have to be removed by thorough washing.

5. Fish cutting:

---splitting is done to increase the surface area exposed to the air and decrease the fish thickness,

so reduce the smoking time.

---fish filleting is to make the product acceptable to the customer. Fish fillets are popular in
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western countries as they are easy to cook with no further preparation.

6. Fish smoking: utilize the mechanical fish smoking equipment to produce quality smoked

fishes.
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Nigerian Smoked Fish Market Potential

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