February 3, 2014
India expects US$112 million revenue from Nile tilapia farming
India's Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has drawn out a plan to farm Nile tilapia (the Nilotics variety of tilapia) in Kerala and has identified 12,000 hectares of farms suitable for farming the new breed, in districts like Palakkad, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha.
M Shaji, deputy director of MPEDA, said that the projected annual revenue from farming this variety of tilapia is roughly INR700 crore (US$112 million) as there is good demand for the fish not only in local markets, but in overseas markets like the United States and the EU. The United States had imported 22,000 tonnes of tilapia fillets from Southeast Asian countries during 2012-13. In addition, there is high demand for tilapia fillets in EU markets as well.
The government of Kerala recently allowed farming of the Nilotics variety, which is a foreign breed. Brood stock was imported from Malaysia and farmers in Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts had already started farming Nilotics, which is popularly known as 'Nile Tilapia'.
In India, the Mossambicus variety of tilapia is widely cultured in states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for the last 30 years. But Nilotics has many advantages over the existing variety. The Nilotics variety is fast growing, achieving a weight of 300-350 grams in just four months and its flesh is more whitish and tastier than Mossambicus.
The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), based in Vijayawada, had started producing fish fry of this variety three years back, based on a technology adopted from the World Fish Centre in Malaysia. The centre already has a big stock of around one million fish fry and is capable of producing on demand from various states.
