The Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) has taken steps to encourage fish farmers to take up farming of a special fish variety Nile Tilapia that could fetch better returns.

Nile Tilapia is fast growing and weighs 300-350 gm in four months. The production cost of this variety is low compared with other species of fish and it commands an average price of ₹150-200 a kg.

Tilapia is the second most important group of farmed fish after carp and widely grown of any farmed fish. It is farmed in at least 85 countries with most imports coming from Asia and Latin America. According to the National Fisheries Institute, tilapia now ranks fourth on its top 10 list of the most consumed fish and seafood in the US.

M Shaji, Deputy Director, Regional Centre (Aqua Culture), MPEDA, said that Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture, the R&D wing of MPEDA, is producing quality infants of Nile Tilapia at its project in Vijayawada by adopting technology from World Fish Centre, Malaysia. The Kerala Fisheries Department has recently issued an order facilitating permission for farming of Nile Tilapia.

Kerala could look forward in rearing this special fish variety, as it would generate an annual revenue of ₹700 crore from 12,000 hectare farms, he claimed.

According to him, Andhra Pradesh had over the last three years succeeded in tilapia culture adopting the methods developed by World Fish Centre. This can be emulated in Kerala, he said adding that select areas in the State especially in Ernakulam and Alappuzha had already started farming Nile tilapia by procuring seeds from RGCA.

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