Producing Tilapia in Small Cages in West Africa.
Fish cages built from locally available materials and stocked with local fish that are fed local feeds are used for tilapia aquaculture in Africa, producing about 6,000 tonnes per year at bigger farms in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, uganda and Zimbabwe. Reported yield varies between 50 and 500 kilograms (kg) per cubic metre (m) per 9 months. In Ghana, positive cash flows have been reported for farms that achieve outputs averaging 10 tonnes per month throughout the year. The Water Research Institute (WRI) in Akosombo, Ghana, is working to bring cage aquaculture technology to smallholder farmers. The stocking, feeding and cage-construction technology piloted by WRI is now being widely adopted in the Lower Volta basin in Ghana. The results of WRI research over 3 the period 2005-2009 are presented here as a guide to potential investors.
