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November | December 2009

Feature title: Feed Management -On-farm feed manufacture and application in small-scale aquaculture

The International magazine for the aquaculture feed industry

International Aquafeed is published five times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom. All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies,the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published.©Copyright 2009 Perendale Publishers L td. All rights reserved. No par t of this publication may be reproduced in any formor by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1464-0058

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There is no clear definition

for what is farm-made

aquafeeds and non-farm

made aqua-feeds.

FAO suggests that farm-made feeds be

defined as feeds in pellet or other forms,

consisting of one or more artificial and/

or natural feedstuffs, produced for the

exclusive use of a particular farming activity

and not for commercial sale or profit.

De Silva (2007) regards mixtures of 

ingredients subjected to some form of 

processing (simple mixing, grinding andcooking) done on-farm or in small process-

ing plants are generally regarded as farm-

made aqua-feeds and are often the mainstay

in small-scale semi-intensive aquaculture

practices (De Silva and Hassan, 2007). This

is not true across Asia.

According to an analysis by Rola and

Hassan (2007) based on case studies carried

out in six leading aquaculture producing

countries in Asia, number of semi-intensive

farms depend on industrial (commercial)

feed and this is highest in India (74 percent)

followed by China (46 percent), indicat-

ing mainstay of semi-intensive farms is

industrial feeds as oppose to on-farm made

feeds. Semi-intensive farms in Viet Nam, the

Philippines and Bangladesh depend less on

industrial feeds at four percent, 28 percent

and zero percent, respectively.

Ingredientsare used foron-farm feeds

A very wide range

of ingredients is used

to prepare farm-made

aqua-feeds (Table 1).Feeds range from

single component feeds

available on-farm such

as grass or rice bran to

farm-made formulated

feeds and commercial

feeds. They include aquatic

and terrestrial plants

(duckweeds, azolla, water

hyacinth etc), aquatic animals (snails, clams

etc) and terrestrial-based live feeds ( silkworm

larvae, maggots etc.), plant processing prod-

ucts (de-oiled cakes and meals, beans, grains

and brans) and animal-processing by-products

(blood and feather meal, bone meal etc.).

Kitchen waste may also be considered as

one of the types of farm-made aqua-feeds

as per FAO definition as it contains one or

more natural feedstuffs in non-pellet form.

Usage unknownOn-farm feed manufacturing can be

of very simple form of single ingredient

directly uses as feed to simple mixtures

On-farm feed manufactureand application in small-scaleaquaculture Kishen J rana1,2 and Sunil N Siiwadena1 

1Institute of Aquacultue, Univesity of Stiling

2Univesity of Stellenbosch

42 | IntnatInal AquAFeed | november-December 09

Feed Management 

-

of powdered ingredients or ingredientscompounded into a dough or pellet form.

Plant origin ingredients are used singly

or in combination with other plant or

animal origin feeds as feeds with no or little

processing in small-scale aquaculture at the

lower end of semi-intensive practice while

animal origin material such as trash fish is

used singly or in combination with other

ingredients with no or little processing at

the upper end of semi-intensive practices

(De Silva and Hassan, 2007).

The full extent of the usage of farm-

made aqua-feeds is unknown and literature

is scarce. It is note worthy that use of 

farm-made aqua-feeds is not restricted to

small-scale aquaculture practices.

According to the recent analysis based

on case studies carried out in six leadingaquaculture producing Asian countries 70

percent to 50 percent of farms dependent

on farm-made aqua-feeds with the excep-

tion of China depending only on 25 percent

(Rola and Hassan, 2007).

However, there are reasons to believe

that farm-made aqua-feeds would make

a significant contribution to small-scale

aquaculture production, particularly in

freshwater aquaculture.

Approximately 80 percent of global

aquaculture production in the past is

believed to be produced without using for-

mulated compounded commercial feeds butrelying on organic and inorganic fertilisers

manures to increase natural food (Akiyama,

1991; Chong, 1995).

This trend may continue, but with appli-

cation of farm-made aqua-feeds to

increase productivity, as freshwa-

ter omnivorous and herbivorous

fish, particularly common carp,

Chinese major carps and tilapia,

are the most frequently used spe-

cies in freshwater aquaculture.

These low value species main-

tained a contribution of around

90 percent to the global total

freshwater aquaculture produc-

tion (Table 2). In order to increase

productivity in small-scale aquac-

ulture of low-value species use of farm-made aqua-feeds is likely to

be on the increase.

Growth is expected – inAsia and Africa

According to a recent estimate, based

on seven leading aquaculture producing

countries in Asia, this trend is seen as

19.3 million tonnes of farm-made aqua-

feeds were used against 10.3 million tonnes

industrial feeds during 2003-2004 in Asia

alone (De Silva and Hassan, 2007).

On average, annual feeding usage rates

of farm-made aqua-feeds varies between507,000kg/ha/yr (Viet Nam) and 2313kg/

ha/yr (India) in semi-intensive farms while it

varies between 270,189kg/ha/yr (Viet Nam)

to 1500kg/ha/yr (China) in traditional farms

(Rola and Hassan, 2007). These feeding

rates are against feeding rates of industrial

feeds between 64,903kg/ha/yr (Thailand)

and 391kg/ha/yr (the Philippines) in semi-

intensive farms.

It is also predicted that the usage of 

farm-made aqua-feeds may go up to 31 mil-

lion tonnes over the next five years against

industrially manufactured feeds, represent-

ing a growth of 60 percent increase from

current levels (De Silva and Hassan, 2007).

Table 1: Commonly used feed types in small-scale aquaculture

FCRRange Feeds of plant origin Feeds of animal origin

1-5

Soybean, barley flour, corn, cereals, groundnut cake, groundmaize, ground rice, sorgum, rice bran broken rice, deoiled cakesand meals of peanut, sesame, cashew, cocoa, coconut, oil palm

linseed, mustard, sunflower, cotton seed, rapeseed, cannabis,

Daphnid, mysis, Clams, locust (dried), silkworm pupae (fresh &dried), chironomids, prawn and shrimp, fish flour, meat flour,dried blood powder, fishmeal, bone/meat meal, feather meal,

food yeast

5-10Oil palm cake, barley bran, wheat flour, wheat bran, red bean,

pea cowpea, broad beanEarth worms (fresh), snail flesh (dried), housefly maggots, locust(fresh), liver spleen, fresh meat, freshwater fish, fresh sea fish

10-20 Manioc leaves, manioc flakes, rye grass, Sudan grass -

> 20

Irish potato, banana leaves, hybrid grass, Lucerne, clover,Manioc rind, manioc flour, Napier grass, elephant grass,

Chinese cabbage, water hyacinth, water lettuce, duckweed, giantduckweed, water egg, aquatic fern, Pond weed, water spinach,

alligator weed, salvinia, Reed-mace, tape grass, Hydrilla, Guineagrass, para grass, lalang grass, star grass, barnyard grass, sweetpotato, sorgam, ramie leaves, canna leaves, pumpkin vines, velvet

bean vines, cassava leaves and tuber, bean stalk leaves andseeds, vegetables, leaves and stems of leguminous plants

-

Source: Tacon (1988); Yang and Yakupitiyage (2000)

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Feed Management 

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75 percent of production costs.

Most of the farm-made supplemental

feeds use agricultural by-products since

selection and utilisation of supplementaryfeeds is linked to other agricultural activities

(De Silva, 1995).

Capacity of farm-made aqua-feeds to

increase productivity of small-scale aquac-

ulture is not only dependent on the cost

of production but also the ability of feed to

provide a nutritionally balance regime, espe-

cially as production trends shifts towards

semi-intensive production.

Therefore, a cost effective balanced

nutritional regime is more appropriate than

one just based on one or two individual

ingredient based food items aimed at cost

reduction. Reducing costs of a feed whilst

ensuring a balanced nutritional regime in

such small-scale aquaculture systems is,

This may be attributed to the obser-

vation made by Tacon and Hassan (2007)

that with the possible exception of Brazil

(in the case of freshwater aquaculture)the bulk of aquaculture species produced

in Latin America, especially Chile, are

high value species destined for export,

which are dependent of complete for-

mulated feeds.

Therefore, significant proportion of the

predicted increase in farm-made aqua-feeds

is most likely to happen in Asia and Africa.

There is a question of effectiveness of 

farm-made aqua-feeds to increase aqua-

culture productivity and this is yet to be

addressed.

The choice of supplemental feed largely

depends on the availability and cost. In most

small-scale farms, on farm feeds, like indus-

trial feeds, also accounts for 40 percent to

However, what proportion from this

increase would be utilised in small-scale

aquaculture is not known.

There is no accurate information onthe usage of farm-made aqua-feeds in Sub-

Saharan Africa except for Nigeria (Tacon

and Hassan, 2007), which is estimated at

approximately 70 percent of the 35,750

aqua-feeds used in Nigeria (Hecht, 2007).

In Sub-Saharan Africa 80 percent of farmers

fall into small-scale category even though

they contribute to 30 percent of the total

production (FAO, 2007).

This indicates the level of contribution

of farm-made aqua-feeds in Sub-Saharan

Africa in terms of number of small-scale

farmers involved in aquaculture produc-

tion using such feeds. Several countries

in Sub Saharan Africa produced around

98,500 tonnes of farm-made aqua-feeds

in small- and medium-scale

aquaculture farms.

Growth isexpected – inLatin America

In contrast, in Latin

America farm-made aqua-

feeds are seldom used in

aquaculture and confined

to the use of agricultural

by products in some small-

scale farms to replace or

complement formulated

complete diets (FAO, 2007).

Table 2: Contribution of low value species to world freshwater aquaculture production

Species contribution (million tonnes)

 Year Carps & othercyprinids

Miscellaneousfreshwater/

diadromous fish

Tilapia &other cichlids

Totalproduction

% Contributionto total

freshwaterproduction

1995 10.40 1.857 0.643 13.533 95.32

2006 15.80 2.14 1.11 19.05 91.00

Adapted from FishStat Plus, 2008

44 | IntnatInal AquAFeed | november-December 09

Feed Management 

-

(eds.), Study and analysis of feeds and fertilisers

for sustainable aquaculture development. FAO

Fisheries technical Paper No. 497, FAO, Rome

pp 510.

Yang, Yi. and Yakupitiyage, A. 2001. Feeds in

small-scale aquaculture. pp 263-268. In: IIRR,

IDRC, FAO, NACA and ICLARM eds, Utilising

Different Aquatic Resources for Livelihoods in

Asia: A Resource Book, International Institute of 

Rural Reconstruction, International DevelopmentResearch Centre, Food and Agriculture

Organisation of the United Nations, Network 

of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific and

International Centre for Living Aquatic resources

Management, 2001.

Rola, W.R. and Hassan, M.R. 2007. Economics of 

aquaculture feeding practices: A synthesis of six

Asian countries. pp 1-32. In: M.R. Hassan and R.

Banks, Economics of aquaculture feeding practices

in selected Asian countries, FAO Fisheries

Technical Paper 505.

Tacon A.G.J. 1988. The nutrition and feeding of 

farmed fish and shrimp. A training manual. 3.

Feeding Methods. FAO Field Document, Project

GCP/RLA/075/ITA, Field Document No. 7, pp

208, Brasilia, Brazil

Tacon A.G.J., Hassan M.R. 2007. Global

synthesis of feeds and nutrients for sustainable

aquaculture development. pp 3-18. In: M.R.

Hassan, T. Hect, S.S. De Silva and A.G.J, Tacon

therefore, important for the longer-term

sustainability.

Cost of fish production using on farm

feeds may not be lowered unless locally avail-

able non-fishmeal ingredients are carefully

selected and blended based on the nutri-

tional requirements of the target species.

References

Akiyama, D.M. 1991.Future considerations for the

aquaculture feed industry. In: D.M. Akiyama and

R.K.H. Tan (eds), Proceedings of the aquacuture

processing and nutrition workshop, Thailand and

Indonesia, September 19-25, 1991. American

Soybean Association, Singapore.

Chong, K.C. 1995. Economics of 

on-farm aquafeed preparation and use.

pp 434. I n: M.B. New, A.G.J. Tacon and

I. Csavas (eds.), Farm-made aquafeeds,

FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 343,

FAO, Rome.

De Silva, S.S. 1995. Supplementary 

feeding in semi-intensive aquaculture

systems. In: M.B. New, A.G.J. Tacon and

I. Csavas (eds.), Farm-made aquafeeds,

FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 343,

FAO, Rome pp 434.

De Silva, S.S. 2007. Reducing feed cost

in aquaculture: Is the use of mixed

feeding schedules the answer for semi-

intensive practices? NACA, available

online http://www.enaca.org/modules/

news/article.php?storyid=905

De Silva, S.S. and Hassan, M.R. 2007.

Feeds and fer tilisers: The key to

long-term sustainability of Asian

aquaculture. pp 19-48. In: M.R. Hassan,

T. Hect, S.S. De Silva and A.G.J, Tacon

(eds.), Study and analysis of feeds and

fertilisers for sustainable aquaculture

development. FAO Fisheries technical

Paper No. 497, FAO, Rome pp 510.

(in press).

FAO 2007. Study and analysis of 

feeds and fertilisers for sustainableaquaculture development. M.R. Hassan,

T. Hect, S.S. De Silva and A.G.J, Tacon

(eds.), FAO Fisheries technical Paper 

No. 497, FAO, Rome pp 510.

FishStat Plus, 2008. FISHSTAT PLUS

(online). Universal software for fishery 

statistical time series (Version 2005-

11-02). Available at: http://www.fao.

org/fi/statist/FISOFT/FISHPLUS.asp

Hecht, T and de Moor I. 20 07. Small-

scale aquaculture in Sub-Saharan

Africa. Available online: http://

cdserver2.ru.ac.za/cd/011120_1/Aqua/

SSA/main.htm

- november-December 09 | IntnatInal AquAFeed | 45

Feed Management 

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