AN ASSESSMENT OF CONSTRAINTS TO AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION IN NORTH CENTRAL, NIGERIA  

High cost of animal protein has forced people to rely on fish. In sum, Nigeria's fish import has been growing owing to the decline of her artisanal fisheries output. It is hoped that aquaculture will alleviate this problem. However, while aquaculture contribution to total fish is high in some developing countries, its contribution to total fish supply in Nigeria is far less than 10 percent, although it is growing at about 20% per annum in recent time.  Serious developmental effort at aquaculture is still nascent. Hence, aquaculture is bedeviled by problems. This study assessed constraints to fish production in North Central, Nigeria using Kogi State as a case study. A three staged random sampling technique was used to select 200 cat fish farmers in the state. Data obtained through structured questionnaire were analysed using mean score from a three point Likert type of scale. The findings indicated that the major constraint to cat fish production in the state is high cost of feed (M=2.80).  This could be attributed to the fact that feed stuff and most inputs are sourced externally. Other problems include inadequate finance (M=2.61) and lack of encouragement from government (M=2.30). Amongst others, provision of inputs to cat fish farmers at subsidized rate was recommended.