Asian Development Bank Helps to Introduce the New Super Tilapia.

Tilapia

A new high-yielding species of this popular tropical inland water fish will soon make its appearance in Asia's kitchens. Bred by ICLARM and collaborators in the Philippines and Norway, this strain is faster growing, more robust, and more efficient as a feed/food converter than traditional strains.

To test this new fish variety in different countries that already farm tilapia, and in diverse farming systems, the Asian Development Bank provided a technical assistance grant of US$600,000 to ICLARM for implementing a project on "Dissemination and Evaluation of Genetically Improved Tilapia Species in Asia". Five countries are participating in the project: Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The project became operative in June 1994 and will be implemented over a period of 30 months.

ADB earlier provided partial funding to the original breeding breeding project Genetic Improvement of Farmed Tilapia (GIFT). Objectives of the new follow-up project are: increased incomes and improved nutrition of small fishers in the five selected countries by distributing the promising tilapia strains developed under the GIFT project; transfer of scientific knowledge and technology for tilapia genetics and providing assistance to the participating countries in planning national tilapia breeding programs; and carrying out detailed evaluation of the economic performance and environmental impact of the improved tilapia strains.

The project will be implemented as an integral component of the International Network on Genetics in Aquaculture (INGA). Dr. D.V. Seshu, the coordinator of INGA, also heads the ADB-sponsored project.

(ICLARM news release)