A new tilapia farming initiative targeting both Kenya and Uganda has raised hope of reversing low productivity trends of tilapia, a popular fish species in East Africa.
A new partnership between a private industry development entity and Scotland-based genetics solutions provider Xelect is spearheading the project.
The partnership between Xelect and Msingi East Africa Ltd. has opened a new chapter in farmed tilapia production through the use of genetic technology to address the challenge of poor yields, while boosting output of quality tilapia to support the drive towards high nutritional levels and trade in seafood within the Eastern Africa region.
“This project helps to enable modern genetic selective breeding in tilapia operations in Kenya and Uganda and is a significant step forward in sustainable aquaculture in the area,” Xelect said in a statement. “Our joint project will be a major milestone in helping to unlock the genetic potential of tilapia, and helping to establish reliable, sustainable tilapia operations in Kenya and Uganda.”
The project involves the training of tilapia producers from selected tilapia farms in the two countries by experts from Xelect, with a focus on extraction of tissue samples that are then sent to the Scotland laboratories for DNA extraction and analysis.
“This data will help East African tilapia producers to create long-term, sustainable breeding program plans,” Xelect said.
According to Xelect Operations Director Tom Ashton, tilapia is a perfect species for East Africa, as it is inexpensive and easy for small-scale farmers to grow for food, nutrition, and income.
“Kenya and Uganda are some of the biggest tilapia producers in East Africa, where despite persisting shortages of quality seeds, small-scale farmers are embracing aquaculture and taking advantage of available opportunities such as tilapia’s characteristics of being hardy and have good disease resistance,” he said.
Currently, Kenya is ranked fourth in total aquaculture production in Africa, with 15 percent growth between 2006 and 2014. The new tilapia genetic project is expected to boost the country’s production capacity, fish trade, and earnings.
Uganda, which ranks aquaculture products as its second-biggest foreign exchange earner after coffee, is a top producer of Nile tilapia, with several private farms likely to leverage the tilapia genetics project to scale up their production, according to Xelect.
Photo courtesy of Xelect
