Efforts by farmers in Hainan, China, to produce more environmentally-friendly tilapia are not being rewarded by the market yet, according to Lisa van Wageningen, program officer at Dutch-based IDH-The Sustainable Trade Initiative.
IDH has been running a program in China’s Hainan Province to improve tilapia farmers’ incomes while making the sector more attractive to investors and insurers. The office, van Wageningen said, has partnered with Chinese non-governmental organization China Blue as well as the Seafood Sustainability Partnership on the project.
“Profit margins of the producer were squeezed by the long supply-chain, whereas consumers’ awareness about demanding a sustainable product has been weak,” she told SeafoodSource.“Both the domestic and the international markets are not on board with producers to pay for better environmental performance or a low environmental footprint. There are explanations of course: the market has other things on its mind. The U.S.-China trade war did not help, and the volatile global economy caused fluctuation in currency exchange rates, which significantly disturbed the supply-chain stability.”
The program being delivered in Hainan by the IDH (which some years ago partnered with the WWF to establish the Aquaculture Stewardship Council) has introduced smartphone apps for use by the leading hatchery, feed mill, and processor in the province.
“This helps to minimize negative environmental impacts by improving feed efficiency and lowering disease risks,” van Wageningen said.
Also using the apps are approximately 500 local tilapia farmers – a third of the total number of farmers on the island province – offering a wealth of data that allows the monitoring their farming practices. Use of data has helped the program to cut the average feed-conversion ratio in Hainan tilapia farms from 1.55 to 1.3, while average survival rates increased from 65 to 80 percent, according to van Wageningen.
“In sum, the project led to more efficient resource-use and a better and environmentally more sustainable product,” she said.
Information generated by the apps is managed by the Hainan Sustainability Tilapia Alliance, a producers’ group which has grown its membership significantly to include one-third of tilapia farmers in the province.
“The Alliance has also made recommendations to local government, leading to better policies for waste-water treatment and insurance policy for small-scale farmers,” van Wageningen said.
Nevertheless, van Wageningen wants to see the Hainan producers’ improvements rewarded by international buyers.
“This is a call to action for every market player, traditional or e-commerce, domestic or international: [Buy this product] if you care about the environment, want to do things differently and support farmers in becoming better,” she said.
Meanwhile, new improvements are being made this year in insuring the local farms. Over the past year, a number of farmers were enrolled in the island’s first pilot for tilapia insurance coverage. The success of the pilot, which compensates farmers for loss due to extreme weather and disease, led to an expansion of the pilot area for tilapia ponds insured in 2021.
Photo courtesy of China Blue
