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Different Farming Systems and Comparative Advantages of Tilapia Over Other Commercial Aquaculture Species in Bangladesh

SAA Nahid
Dept. Fisheries Management, BAU, Mymensingh

E Karim
BFRI, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

MR Hasan
Dept. Fisheries & Marine Sci., Noakhali Sci. & Tech. Univ, Noakhali, Bangladesh

AM Shahabuddin
Dept. Animal Husbandry, SAU, Dhaka

MAB Bhuyain
Inst. Marine Sci. & Fisheries, Univ. of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

A survey on tilapia was conducted in Bangladesh from September 2009 to April 2010 to assess the current tilapia farming status and analyze the advantages of tilapia farming over other commercial aquaculture species. Methods included rapid rural appraisal (RRA) exercises and observational tour in Comilla, Chandpur, Khulna, Jessore, and Mymensingh districts. During the study time 25 Tilapia farms, 5 Tilapia hatcheries, 5 markets and 2 processing plants were visited. Interviews were also conducted with 15 retailers, 15 consumers and 2 processors. Results demonstrated that tilapia has several encouraging attributes which collectively resulted in higher adoption at the farmers’ level. Currently tilapia is cultured in various species densities, and combinations from monoculture to polyculture with carps, shrimp, prawn, and catfish and in different containments all over the county including ponds, rice fields, ghers, flood plains, river cages, tea gardens, small reservoirs etc. Pangas farmers culture tilapia as an alternative when the market price is low, while shrimp and prawn farmers stock tilapia to minimize diseases. It can be concluded from the survey that tilapia has great potential not only as commercial species but also as an alternative and additional species of farmed fish. The trend in tilapia production is rapid suggesting that it may be the comparable aquaculture species in Bangladesh in near future.

Keywords: Advantages, Tilapia farming

Location: Comilla, Chandpur, Khulna, Jessore, and Mymensingh

Start Date: 00-09-2009

End Date: 00-04-2010

Program Area: Farming System

Commodity: Tilapia

Objectives:

To assess the current tilapia farming status and analyze the advantages of tilapia farming over other commercial aquaculture species.

Methodology:

The study was conducted in Comilla (important for flood plain tilapia culture), Chandpur (for cage culture), Khulna (polyculture with shrimp and prawn), Jessore (polyculture with carps), and Mymensingh (polyculture with catfish and carps) districts. Comilla and Chandpur covered south-eastern part; Jessore and Khulna covered south-western part, and Mymensingh covered north central part of Bangladesh, which represented different farming systems and the scenario of tilapia for whole country. This selection were made through several levels of in-depth discussion with relevant actors, ranging from seed suppliers to BFRI and DoF (Department of fisheries) officials, who were supposed to have acquired wider perspectives in the related sector and from secondary information obtained from different literatures. Methods included rapid rural appraisal (RRA) exercises and observational tour in the selected districts. Between September 2009 to April 2010, total 25 Tilapia farms (5 per district; 2 small: farm size ≤ 0.20 ha, 2 medium: farm size 0.21 to 0.80 ha and 1 large: ≥ 0.81 ha), 5 Tilapia hatcheries (1 per district), 5 markets (1 per district) and 2 processing plants (in Khulna) were visited. Interviews were also conducted with 15 retailers, 15 consumers (3 retailers and 3 consumers at each market) and 2 processors individually using open ended type questionnaire. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from primary sources. To store and generate tabular and graphical representation of different types of data, MS Excel was used. A partial economic analysis was conducted to compare cost-benefits of different tilapia culture systems. Beside this another study was done to identify the farmers’ preferences of culturing tilapia, compare to other commercial species in Bangladesh.

Source of Information: Bangladesh J. Prog. Sci. & Tech. 10(1): 093-096, January, 2012

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

According to the interviewees, currently tilapia is considered as the most commonly preferred aquaculture species compared to other commercially important fishes. Tilapia has great potential in Bangladesh as an alternative and additional species of farmed fish. It is going to be the prime culture species in near future for freshwater and brackish water ecosystems. The way tilapia aquaculture is expanding at the level of small, medium and commercial scales, the time is not so far that one day a bulk quantity of total aquaculture production might be met up through tilapia farming in Bangladesh.

Knowledge Management: Journal