Tilapia thrives on coffee
Small-scale tilapia producers now have a new item to add to their feed: coffee waste, consisting of fruit pulp and skin. In coffee growing and processing areas, it is cheap and abundant. The researcher J U Rojas of the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica found that up to 10% of tilapia feed can consist of coffee waste. It is rich in protein, but because of its high levels of caffeine, tannin and polyphenol, it cannot be fed to mammals: it would hinder their intake of nutrients and even halt their growth. Tilapia do not have these problems. Rojas argues that small fish ponds are the most suitable environment in which to feed the waste to tilapia, since other organisms in the pond will pre-digest the waste and make the protein readily available for the tilapia. Whilst tilapia are native to Africa, other regions are racing ahead in the growing world market for this product. The primary suppliers of fresh fillets are in the Caribbean, and in Central and northern South American countries, such as Costa Rica and Colombia. Most world exports of frozen fillets are from Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. According to FAO, annual world production is about 1.7 million t, of which 1 million t is produced in Asia, 0.5 million t in Africa and the rest in the Americas.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2002
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/47701 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99605 |
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