Supporting the Aquaculture industry in Egypt: Identification mission 30 March - 1 April 2014
Egyptian fish farming has witnessed a spectacular development resulting in an industry that is number 7 worldwide and number two in tilapia production. As such the industry is an important contributor to Egypt’s economy as well as a major provider of cheap fish protein. However, there are a number of developments that potentially could result in a stagnation or even collapse of the industry. Some important issues are: • Low fish prices and increasing fish production costs resulting in eroding profitability of farms and thus no investment in technology development and innovation. • Lack of processing and freezing capacity which results in an inability to access new export markets • Low priority of government, lack of legislation and harmonisation of legislation, no operational extension service, weak professional organisations and weak linkage between research and industry • Rather traditional farming technology (tilapia) including use of low quality feeds and wild fry (marine aquaculture). The IMARES/Wageningen UR study1 illustrated that within the currently available land and water resources, Egypt can potentially increase its total tilapia production from 700,000 tonnes to 1,400,000 tonnes, resulting in an increase in the economic value of the sector to over 1% of the current GDP. In order to realize this potential, the first requirement is to increase the current farm profitability. When this is realized, capital will become available that allow farmers to invest into new production technologies, market innovations and new organisational structures, that will than result in more fish and new markets. Among the issues at stake are improvements in fish feed and on-farm feed management, breeding and genetics and export of fish to new international markets (Middle East and Europe).
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| Format: | External research report biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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IMARES
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| Subjects: | aquaculture, egypt, fish farms, profitability, tilapia, aquacultuur, egypte, rentabiliteit, viskwekerijen, |
| Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/supporting-the-aquaculture-industry-in-egypt-identification-missi |
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| Summary: | Egyptian fish farming has witnessed a spectacular development resulting in an industry that is number 7 worldwide and number two in tilapia production. As such the industry is an important contributor to Egypt’s economy as well as a major provider of cheap fish protein. However, there are a number of developments that potentially could result in a stagnation or even collapse of the industry. Some important issues are: • Low fish prices and increasing fish production costs resulting in eroding profitability of farms and thus no investment in technology development and innovation. • Lack of processing and freezing capacity which results in an inability to access new export markets • Low priority of government, lack of legislation and harmonisation of legislation, no operational extension service, weak professional organisations and weak linkage between research and industry • Rather traditional farming technology (tilapia) including use of low quality feeds and wild fry (marine aquaculture). The IMARES/Wageningen UR study1 illustrated that within the currently available land and water resources, Egypt can potentially increase its total tilapia production from 700,000 tonnes to 1,400,000 tonnes, resulting in an increase in the economic value of the sector to over 1% of the current GDP. In order to realize this potential, the first requirement is to increase the current farm profitability. When this is realized, capital will become available that allow farmers to invest into new production technologies, market innovations and new organisational structures, that will than result in more fish and new markets. Among the issues at stake are improvements in fish feed and on-farm feed management, breeding and genetics and export of fish to new international markets (Middle East and Europe). |
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