Kerala allows farming of Niltoics breed Tilapia

Projected revenue of Rs 700 cr

Marine Products Export Development Authority [MPEDA] has chalked out a plan to culture Nilotics variety of Tilapia fish in Kerala. The Authority has identified 12,000 hactares of farms in districts like Palakkad, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha, suitable for farming new breed.  M Shaji, Deputy Director, MPEDA told Business Standard that the projected annual revenue by  farming this variety of Tilapia is roughly Rs 700 crore as the fish had got  good demand not only in local markets, but in overseas markets like USA and European Union. USA  had imported 22,000 tonnes of fillets made out of this fish from South East Asian countries,  during 2012-13. Tilapia Fillets have got  high demand in EU markets also.  

Kerala Government has recently issued an order,  allowing  the farming of  Nilotics variety as this is a foreign breed. Brood stock was imported from Malaysia. He said that farmers in Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts had already started farming Nilotics, which is popularly known as ‘Nile Tilapia’.   

Shaji said that Nilotics variety is fast growing and get a weight of 300 -350 gms in just 4 months. In India,  Mossambicus  variety of Tilapia is widely cultured  in states like Kerala, Andhrapradesh and Odisha for the last 30 years.  But Nilotics has got many advantages over the existing variety. It’s flesh is more  whitish and tastier than  Mossambicus. On an average 5 tonnes can be produced from 1 hectare in just 8 months time since this   is a fast growing breed.  Farmers get an average price of Rs 150 -200/Kg and the production cost is rather low compared to other species of fish. Tilapia, which is  an African fish by origin,  is mainly a scavenger type fish and requires less fish meal.

Rajiv Gandhi Center for Aquaculture  [RGCA], based in Vijayawada, had started producing infants of this variety, three years back, based on a technology adopted from World Fish Center in Malaysia. The center already  has a big stock of  around 1 million infants and is capable of producing as per demand from various states. Farmers of Andhrapradesh and Odisha are widely farming Nilotics breed for the last couple of years and earning a decent income. Apart from Nile and Mossambicus, Blue Tilapia is also widely used for farming. Global farmed production of Tilapia is around 3.5  million tonnes annually with an estimated value of $3 billion. World over,  20 countries are farming Tilapia with China, Egypt, Indonesian Philippines, Thailand and Brazil top the table.