As part of its broader expansion plans for Africa, Danish aquaculture firm Aller Aqua has broken ground on a fish feed factory in Siavonga, Zambia.
The company said it has invested USD 10 million (EUR 9.4 million) in the plant plant, which will produce high-quality extruded fish feed for aquaculture, it said in a press release.
“With the investment in Zambia, we will be the market leader in Africa in terms of modern and environmentally friendly fish feeds for aquaculture. This will enable us to expand our sales not only in Zambia but also the surrounding countries,” Henrik Halken, Aller Aqua’s group vice president in charge of African operations.
In conjunction with the groundbreaking, the company also secured a contract with Yalelo Ltd., a Zambian tilapia farming company. Yalelo has plans to increase its annual tilapia production to 30,000 metric tons (MT) in the news few years, Aller Aqua said.
“The African market will, without a doubt, grow significantly in the coming years. The number of inhabitants is rising quickly and the population will need healthy food which is high in protein,” Halken said. “Fish farming and locally produced fish is part of the solution for this, and fish farming can further help people get a livelihood and get out of poverty. In Zambia approximately 95 percent of the raw materials we will use comes from the local market, which is a great advantage.”
Aller Aqua’s new factory, on Lake Kariba near the border with Zimbabwe, will have a production capacity of 50.000 MT of fish feed per year “and will be the most technically advanced fish feed factory in Southern Africa,” the company said.
So far, construction is on schedule, with a planned opening date for the factory of September 2017, Halken said.
“Obviously, there are many challenges when building in Zambia compared to Denmark. But we have a fantastic team and management whom will ensure that we succeed and overcome these challenges,” he said.
As part of its press release, Aller Aqua also announced the addition of a third production line in its factory in Egpyt, which it built in 2014.
