African tilapia producer Lake Harvest has signed a five-year broodfish supply agreement with Benchmark Holding’s subsidiary Spring Genetics that gives the commercial aquaculture company exclusive access to tilapia species with improved resistance to diseases and superior performance traits.
Benchmark Holdings said on 28 September that Lake Harvest, which operates as Kariba Harvest in Zambia and Lake Harvest Aquaculture in Zimbabwe, will now have “exclusive access to Spring Genetics’ advanced selection program in the U.S. for its commercial operations.”
Additionally, Lake Harvest, will henceforth have a permit to “produce and sell sex-reversed fingerlings to third parties in the region (Africa).”
Lake Harvest is competing for a share of the African tilapia market with other commercial producers such as Yalelo in Zambia, Source of Nile in Uganda, Tropo in Ghana, Triton in both Nigeria and Ghana, Victory Farms in Kenya, and Maldeco in Malawi.
“We are very pleased to sign our first broodstock contract in Africa to support the sustainable growth of the tilapia industry in the region,” Commercial and Operations Manager of Spring Genetics Hideyoshi Segovia said in a release.
According to the U.K.-based Benchmark Holdings, the Lake Harvest Africa affiliates were granted a broodfish permit in August, with the first stock from the U.S. expected to arrive this October. The imported fish, the company explained, “will first enter a dedicated quarantine facility and be extensively health screened before introduced to Lake Harvest’s farming operations in Lake Kariba.”
“Signing of this contract is an important step forward in the execution of our growth strategy” Technical Director of Lake Harvest Alfred Kadzomba said.
Kadzomba said he is optimistic that leveraging the genetics’ potential in tilapia production would enable Lake Harvest and other commercial producers in Africa to “optimize production potential as well as improve animal health and welfare.”
“We’re looking forward to working with the Spring Genetics team and receiving the first supply of their latest generation broodstock to ensure continuous improvements and advances in our stock,” Kadzomba said.
As tilapia continues to play a key role in achieving food security in Africa and particularly meeting the animal protecting requirements for the poor in the continent, growth of aquaculture of the species is expected to continue.
Currently, tilapia production is growing at 10 percent according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with capture fisheries expected to dominate commercial operations despite likelihood of the segment remaining stagnant.
Meanwhile, FAO predicts that importation of frozen tilapia, mainly from China, will continue in order to meet the demand in countries that don’t produce enough domestically, in spite of possible barriers to the trend across the continent.
Photo courtesy of Benchmark Holding
