Tilapia farming Untapped SA market holds opportunity for growth

David Fincham has more than 30 years’ experience in aquaculture and is one of South Africa’s foremost tilapia specialists. Through his business in Muldersdrift near Johannesburg, he has supplied 450 fish farming production units to farmers in Africa. He spoke to Pieter Dempsey.

- Pieter Dempsey

Tell us more about your business, David Fincham Aquaculture.

The business was started in 2014 and developed the one-tank fish farming system and aquaculture production unit (APU), a semi-intensive recirculating tilapia farming system designed to meet the needs of tilapia farmers in Africa. The APU is a complete and ready-to-install system. We’ve already supplied 450 APUs to farmers in Africa, of which 100 are in South Africa. These units enable farmers to learn about tilapia farming and experience the processes required for the upscaling of production to commercial levels. We also supply and stock fingerlings through our own and partner hatcheries using good-quality genetic stock. We’re in the process of increasing volumes to meet market demand.

What is the potential for tilapia farming in South Arica?

Current annual production of tilapia in South Africa is estimated at between 200t and 400t, which is extremely low given the potential for the industry. The landscape for tilapia production is changing and will change at an increasing rate as critical mass is built. The demand for jobs, food security and productive use of land and water will be major drivers of the tilapia sector’s growth. This has been witnessed worldwide and is true for countries such as Bangladesh and Brazil.

The development of hatcheries will be driven by demand, but growth has to be achieved with high standards in terms of genetics, health and biosecurity.