With its inspirational boost in the fish production, the country has projected to reach its total fish production to 80 lakh metric tons (MT) by adding a production of 10 lakh metric tons Tilapia by 2030. According to the department of fisheries, in 2018-19 fiscal, the country's total fish production has reached to 42.77 lakh MT whereas the production was 27.01 MT 10 years ago.
In the 2016-2017 fiscal, Bangladesh produced a total of 41,34,000 metric tons of fish, including a first-time surplus of 84,000 metric tons. Moreover, the country had been ranked third in fish production from inland water-bodies for two years, behind China and India, according to a report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The country was the fifth on the list in 2015-16 fiscal year.
The fish production of the country has increased by 58.34 percent over the last ten years thanks to various initiatives undertaken by the government. About fish production in Bangladesh, Aquaculture and Nutrition researcher Jon Thiele told the Bangladesh post, I am really impressed about the success of fish production in Bangladesh. Fish farming is a very good business that improving income for the poor people and improving nutrition as well.
Jon Thiele, also the chief of party of Feed the Future Bangladesh, said Team oriented and future oriented programmes will help improving the living condition of Bangladesh whereas aquaculture is the key. We have achieved self-sufficiency in fish production. After fulfilling the domestic demand every year, Bangladesh now exports huge amount of fish to different countries in the world including India, Thailand, USA, UK, and Vietnam, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru on Sunday said at a workshop of AquaLINC Project organised by the WorldFish at Lakeshore Hotel in the capital.
He also said, Per kg Koi fish was Tk 600 to 700 in 2009 which is now Tk 150, per kg Shing fish is Tk 300 to 500 and per kg Pabda fish is now Tk 400 to 600. This has been possible for the growth of fisheries and innovation of high production species of fishes. Secretary of Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Md Raisul Alam Mondal said that Mymensingh region in Bangladesh is ahead of aquaculture fisheries. Fish farming and business have been growing rapidly in other reasons for various initiatives taken by the government, he added.
Besides, researchers from different countries engaged in the WorldFish and Aquaculture for Low Income Consumers (AquaLINK) project revealed that they found new ways in tilapia production, which will increase the growth and production of Tilapia. Researchers demonstrated that the production of Tilapia can be enhanced by applying the innovative methods that they invented.
They said, Aquaculture production in Bangladesh has grown rapidly. In 2006-07 the production of Tilapia was only 15000 metric tons which increased to 3.85 million metric tons in 2017-18 and it has been projected that the total production could potentially reach to 80 lakh metric tons with a production of 10 lakh metric tons of Tilapia by 2030.
They also envisaged that the major constraint in the promotion of aquaculture is the increased cost of feed and other inputs, resulting in poor profit margin for farmers. In the conventional way, farmers place both fingerlings and grown tilapia in the same pond, which limits the availability of fingerlings year-round. They also believe that the bigger fish can give them more money. For this they keep tilapia in the pond for 6 to 8 months. But reality is different. They do not get enough customers for big fishes.
According to an AquaLINC research, farmers can separate fingerlings from grown Tilapia by adding cages or ‘hapas’ into their ponds. Farmers can aim to grow smaller Tilapia of 200 to 300 gram in size. Growing smaller Tilapia allows farmers to feed their fish every other day. This drops the cost of production by 30 percent. Small fishes take 3 to 4 months to grow, and fingerlings are readily available, Tilapia can be grown and made available in the market round the year.
Smaller Tilapia makes the fish affordable to poor local consumers both in rural and urban areas. This increases the farmer's profit margins and persuades other farmers to adopt this method of Tilapia production. This leads to a more efficient system overall. AquaLINC is a 3-year project implemented by the WorldFish through Fish CRP that worked to increase supplies of affordable and nutritious fish for poor consumers in Bangladesh and Egypt.
