MY DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE SSAT(STEEM SKILL ACQUISITION TRAINING) ORGANISED BY STEEMCHURCH

Hello steemians.
welcome to my blog. So saturday was one of the happiest days of my life because of the wonderful experience I had with some notable steemians residing in Abuja and its environs and some non-steemians who were adopted to the steem family.
I, @kevwealth, @jacobite, @roman3, @wales007 and @yungchief met together and set out to the venue of the skills acquisition training and Glory to God we arrived safely, and we met with @fatherfaith and other steemians which I met for the first time such as @korexe and @adedoyinwealth.

We started off with an opening prayer and then @fatherfaith gave the opening speech and @adedoyinwealth also did a good job at telling us about @steemchurch and promoting it, and also told us about its purpose on the blockchain. @jacobite also talked about the cryptocurrency generally, the steemit blockchain and it’s vast number of platforms where one can express themselves by contributing to the blockchain. The resource person who was billed to take us on the skills acquisition training who is a professional in fishery/poultry was introduced by @fatherfaith and then he began with us.

He started off by telling us about what fish/poultry farming is which is the cultivation of fish and birds for various purposes. Fish farming was our major focus for the training. He also talked about factors to consider when one is about to site a fish farm for which some

1. The kind of land or geographical composition of the land in view
2. The kind of water to be used (PH scale of the water)
3. Finance(capital) is a major factor in starting up a fish farm.
4. The required number of staff to employ or whether you will be the one to manage it if on a small scale or if you will have time.
5. Type of fish/bird to cultivate since there are varieties, type of feed.
6. Knowledge or technical knowhow involved in starting up.
7. Risks assessment.
8. Your market. (who buys the product, marketing strategy)

Our resource person also went to talk on areas that one can choose to major on and be established on such as Marketing fish and its products. Hatchery is also one of the areas that is very lucrative, feed making and fish processing such as (smoking and freezing). He also talked extensively on the various materials/modes by which fish farming can be practiced which are concrete pond, earth pond, wooden vest, tarpaulin pond and cage system culture.
He said after setting up the desired system of type of pond, the next step is to treat the pond and fertilize with some certain organic fertilizer such as cow dung tied in a sack and lowered in the water for some days before putting the fish in the pond so as the fish can thrive in the water environment. He particularly stressed that we should be careful about the kind of water we use for the fish as the PH scale of a kind of water could kill the fish if not on a proper level. He also advised to start with the African catfish in this part of Africa because they are rugged and can survive and thrive under some sort of conditions. according to Mr. Peter, there are different sizes of fish with their names which are fingerlings, juveniles, jumbo sizes.

He spoke further about feeding the fish.

“Fish should be fed by how they respond to the food you give them. when they are small, it is advised to feed them 3 times a day and when they are at 2 to 3 months, you can feed them averagely twice a day. Sometimes when you notice that the fish are not eating the feed on time or they have stopped picking the feed up, then you should stop giving them the feed because they might just be satisfied”. Feed conversion tells you how much feed given to the fish overtime has been converted to flesh. The best feed in the market may not always be the best one, but quality feed is still better. Based on experience, always look out for darker feeds than lighter ones because the darker feeds have blood concentrates mixed in them, and I have noticed that darker feeds have produced bigger fish than lighter feed due to the blood concentrate which is an essential concentrate.
In order to get good results, make sure to get a mentor who is excelling in the business".

Another very important point he stressed about was the art of record keeping. He said record keeping is the bed rock for the success of any business including fish farming. He said that you know somebody who is serious about a business by proper record keeping of every expenditure and endeavour of the business. Record keeping actually gives you a proper hands on analysis of what you’re doing and helps you ascertain whether you are making profit or not, and it also helps to pinpoint errors being committed in the business. Also importantly, it helps you know the quantity of feed to administer to the farm to get them to the desired size for consumption and sales.
Another important point he made was that, result may not always be determined by the amount of labour you put in, but always involve God in your farming endeavours.
After we had finished the theoretical part of the training, we then went round some ponds to check and have an experience of what it’s like to set up a fish farm and cultivate fish and these are some of the pictures i took from the event.

MY GRATITUDE AND CONCLUSION

My vote of thanks goes to first of all goes to @sirknight, the visioner of @steemchurch who supported this movement, @fatherfaith and @adedoyinwealth who put this skills acquisition training together so that youths like me can be empowered in order to be relevant in the society thereby meeting peoples need and contributing my own quota. God bless you all for the love and support. I hope more of these kind of programs/meetups will be organised so we could learn more. Am already thinking of starting a fish farm business when i have the finance required.
Thanks for stopping by. I remain your one and only @kevwealth. Have a great day.