How To Start Shrimp Farming In Nigeria (2025)

This article is about how to start shrimp farming in Nigeria currently in this year 2025. Shrimps have a sizable global market, but over time, there has been a shortage in supplying this need. One of the causes is that more than fifty percent of the world’s supply still originates from diverse sources. This demonstrates unequivocally that many nations have not yet fully embraced shrimp aquaculture.

Due to their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant qualities, shrimp are a fantastic source of protein and have wonderful health benefits. Currently, Nigeria exports 12,000 metric tonnes of shrimp to North American, Asian, and European nations each year. Comparatively speaking to what can be exported, this is a very minor portion. Even if the industry for producing shrimp has a potential yearly income of about $384 million, the output at the moment is less than half of that. Because there are so many coastal and mangrove areas in the Niger-Delta, Nigeria is fortunate to have a plentiful supply of shrimp.

Sadly, environmental degradation caused by pollution and oil spills has affected more than 70% of these mangrove habitats. The need for privately operated shrimp farms is actually revealed by this difficulty. Going forward, we shall look at the various steps involved in setting up your shrimp farm in Nigeria today so that you can contribute your much needed quota of supply to the global shrimp demand.

GUIDE ON HOW TO START SHRIMP FARMING IN NIGERIA 2025 

The following are the step by step processes on how to start shrimp farming in Nigeria this 2025:

SELECT YOUR LOCATION

In general, freshwater shrimp can be grown in swimming pools and other tanks with a lot of depth, but this isn’t the greatest technique for shrimp farming. The yield from using a pond will always be higher than from using a pool or container. Before choosing the best location, there are a few things to keep in mind.

You must locate your pond adjacent to warm, brackish water if you plan to grow saltwater shrimp. This is relevant, particularly if you’re employing the conventional approach. In this situation, a place near an ocean would be excellent.

There are a few additional proximity concerns if you’re employing the intensive farming method, so your pond placement doesn’t necessarily need to be close to the ocean. For instance, it’s ideal if your pond is adjacent to the neighborhood market or your target market. By doing this, you would reduce the hassle and expense of transportation.

Prior to farming, you should also think about the source of your shrimp larvae and confirm that your pond is not too far away. When the animals are transferred from the hatchery to the pond, this will aid in lowering their stress levels.

The quality of the soil and water is another crucial issue. The land should ideally contain enough clay to allow the pond to hold water. Generally speaking, there are precise conditions for shrimp farming in Nigeria that you need to follow in terms of fertility, acidity, and the physical makeup of the soil and water.

CONSTRUCT YOUR SHRIMP POND

You must decide whether you want a one phase or two phase pond while building your pond. The juvenile shrimp are obtained from the hatchery and put right into the pond when using the one-phase approach. In contrast, a two-phase system contains a main pond and a nursery. The young are raised in the nursery before being released into the main pond a few weeks later. The female shrimp can lay tens of thousands to millions of eggs in the nursery, which typically hatch after a day.

The newly hatched shrimp are known as nauplii. It takes the nauplii roughly 12 days to mature into baby shrimps after being fed algae. The shrimp, however, are not introduced into the pond until the 25th day. The design of your pond will also rely on the techniques you plan to use for shrimp farming. The traditional (classic) method, semi-intensive method, and intensive method are a few of these.

The farm is located in the shrimps’ natural habitat, which is the coastal or mangrove areas, in the traditional way of shrimp farming. The seed stock in this instance is obtained from the wild, and the size of your supply depends on the season. The pond can range in size from 3 hectares to 20 hectares. A hectare may hold 3000-5000 fry, and you can anticipate a harvest of 500-800 kg per hectare per year.

An appropriately designed pond is required for the semi-intensive approach of shrimp farming. The pond has a rectangular shape and is often smaller than the one created using the conventional approach. With a size of 1 to 3 hectares, you can farm. It should be between 0.8 and 1.2 meters deep. This method’s pond system contains a ditch that makes it easier for water to drain and makes it possible to gather shrimp during harvest. The ditch is typically 5 to 10 meters broad and 30 to 50 cm deep, and it has a diagonal shape. During the warm months, the shrimps also find shelter in the ditch. For semi-intensive farming, the stocking rate ranges from 20,000 to 50,000 fry per hectare.

The finest technique of shrimp farming is intensive shrimp farming because, thanks to its significantly higher output when compared to other ways, it is the most financially lucrative method. With this technique, you may cultivate so that you get shrimp that are all the same size. In order to raise shrimp on an industrial scale, a farming technique known as the Galveston or “clear water” hatchery uses the intense method. Commercial feed is added to the diet of the newborn shrimp in large-scale hatcheries.

They employ large tanks that may contain up to 30 tons in this situation. Additionally, you can stock the shrimp at much higher densities and create seed stock all year long. The pond utilized can be much smaller, and you can store more shrimp per unit space. However, continual surveillance is necessary to guarantee optimum aeration and an optimal oxygen delivery. In general, survival rates are far higher, and as was already mentioned, yields are also higher, though undoubtedly so are production costs.

FEED YOUR SHRIMP

In most cases, you can fertilize your shrimp pond. This aids in the growth of the phytoplankton and natural algae that your shrimp will consume. However, when the shrimps get bigger, you will need to supplement their feed because they will be eating more. These supplements include dry pellets, rice bran, toad and frog chunks, and leftovers from around the house. Feeding trays, mechanical machine feeders, or feed broadcasts can all be used to administer them.

HARVESTING YOUR SHRIMP

The optimum time to harvest your mature shrimp is in the evening. This is done to prevent the sun from raising the water’s temperature and lowering its volume and oxygen content. This can result in the shrimp dying and negatively impacting your business financially.

CONCLUSION

If you are just getting started with shrimp farming, there are not many things to anticipate. If you are using a newly excavated pond, you can have a poor yield in the first year. This is because there isn’t enough algae or bug larvae for the shrimp to eat, but over time, things will improve noticeably as the necessary organic matter gradually accumulates. In order to stop disease outbreaks and encourage a plentiful yield, you will need to be meticulous and use the best shrimp farming techniques.