Abstract

Coronavirus 2019 is a global health concern that has left most countries in a state of severe economic meltdown. Scientific research has been down on the virus and its impact on various sectors but that of the Nigerian aquaculture industry has been missing. This paves the way for this research to aim at bridging this gap by looking at the perception of fish farmers on the influence of coronavirus on their activities, the challenges they face during the period of the virus, and the coping strategies adopted to mitigate the impact of the virus. The research used cross sectional survey design with the sample size being 11 fish farmers living in Oyo state, Nigeria. Homogeneous purposive sampling was used and primary data collected through the use of google form. The data collected was analysis using SPSS version 25.0. The result of the analysed data showed that: on socioeconomic characteristics; the majority of the respondent reported that Coronavirus has had an effect on their fishing activity and they were mostly small scale farmers with catfish being the predominate fish farmed. The majority of fish farmers perceived demand decline, high cost of production, fish being more expensive, and reduction of manpower on the farm due to lockdown measures. Reduction in walk-in customers to the farm was revealed as the major challenge posed by the pandemic, while the inability to get technical support as least. On coping strategies adopted, it was revealed that farmers have resorted to the development of their own feed.

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